THE AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIRDS IN FREEDOM AND IN CAPTIVITY EDITED BY PHYLLIS BARCLAY-SMITH, F.Z.S. VOL. LII JANUARY, 1946, to DECEMBER, 1946 Hertford STEPHEN AUSTIN & SONS, Ltd. 1946 CONTENTS Title-page ..... Contents ...... Alphabetical List of Contributors List of Plates Officers for the Year 1946 u f) List of Members Rules of the Avicultural Society The Society’s Medal Magazine .... Index ..... i iii v viii 237 / , i ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Amsler, Dr. Maurice Bygone memories of semi-captive birds, 68. Barclay-Smith, Phyllis (P. B-S.) Death of Mr. John Frostick, 81. Dr. J. M. Derscheid, 165. Jubilee of the New York Zoological Society, 122. Review — Friends in Fur and Feather , 164. Berry, John Strange nesting behaviour of a Whitefronted Gander, 184. Capron, Glare I. A Blackheaded Gull and other birds at Semi-liberty, 55. Burgis, Captain Brian Birds of Morotai Island, Netherland East Indies, 88. Carr, V. A. V. Some British Birds at Semi-liberty, 45. Davis, Sir Godfrey The Cage-door is open, 39. Davis, H. H. Wild Geese on the Severn, 11, 187. Delacour, Jean Birds at semi-liberty at Villers-Bretonneux and at Cleres (1905-1940), 64. Preparing a post-war book on Pheasants, 20. The Jewel Room in the New York Zoo, 123. The Ornamental Pheasant Society, 166. Derscheid, Jean Marie (the late) The Eider Duck in Captivity, 173. England, M. D. Redrump Parrakeets at Liberty, 38. Falkner, Guy Good Birds at Liberty, 47. Floyd, J. F. M. Records of Sunbirds in Aviculture, 23. The Wild Swans of Erin, 189. Fqoks, H. A. Traps and Trapping, 1. Gargan, A. Breeding of Stanley Redrump X Parrakeet hybrids, 10. Goodwin, Derek Odd hours with Brown-necked Ravens, 90. Speculations on the mimicry of the Jay, 204. Hill, W. C. Osman The Ceylon Magpie, 141. VI ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Isenberg, A. H. and Williamson, T. F. M. The Spectacled Jay-Thrush at Liberty in California, 48. Jones, Terry The 1946 Waterfowl breeding season at Leckford, 193. Joyce, C. A. Ducks and Delinquency, 198. Lendon, A. Breeding of King Parrakeet in immature plumage, 166. “ Deliberate rudeness ” of Parrakeet, 165. Memories of the Moluccas, 206. Parrakeet Breeding results in Adelaide for 1945, 144. Manfield, H. The Breeding in captivity of the Crowned Pigeon ( Goura victoria ) in Adelaide Zoological Gardens, South Australia, 199. Mathews, F. E. Bird Items Home and Colonial, 230. Maxwell, P. H. Some interesting birds recently received at the London Zoo, 166. Moody, A. F. An early account of some perching birds in the Scampston collection, 18, 115,213. Murray, Ray Notes on Lorikeets in Captivity in Australia, hi. Plath, Karl Avian old timers at Brookfield, 83. Prestwick, A. A. (A. A. P.) Additions to the London Zoo, 231. Breeders of Hawfinches, 226. Breeding Successes Abroad, 201. British Aviculturists Club, 80, 105, 228. Obituary — John Frostick, 109. Semi-palmated or Black-and- White Goose, 198. The Hebb Bequest, 79. The Society’s medal, 159, 223. Ripley, Dillon Waterfowl collections in the North-Eastern United States, 170. Risdon, D. H. S. My experience of liberty birds, 50. Reminiscences V, Parrakeets, 1 1 . Reminiscences VI, Small Seedeaters, 98. Rudkin, Frances H. Peafowl, 1 13. Scott, A. H. Sand Martins in Captivity, 135. Scott, Peter A Waterfowl Registry and Census, 167. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Sherriff, A. Blackheaded Sibias and other birds at Semi-liberty, 66. Sibley, G. L. Fertile Cyanochen-Alopochen hybrids, 197. Southern, H. N. The Inheritance of head colour in the Gouldian Finch, 126. Sprawson, Professor Evelyn Hatching a hybrid unawares, 16. Sweetnam, Prebendary The “ Birds at Semi-Liberty ” Number, 37. Teague, P. W. Further notes on the breeding of Gouldian Finches, 132. Webber, L. C. Ten years with the Painted Finch and some historical notes, 149. Wharton-Tigar, N. Wild Bird Notes from the Isle of Thanet, 225. Williamson, T. F. M. and Isenberg, A. H. The Spectacled Jay-Thrush at Liberty in California, 48. WlNTLE, D. S. Memories of Waterfowl at Walcot, 180. Yf.alland, John Some Birds at Semi-liberty, 59. vil Vlll LIST OF PLATES LIST OF PLATES Bird catching ....... Diagrams of bird traps . Prebendary Sweetnam with Green Glossy Starling Karl Plath and “ Lady ”, a Whooping Swan . The oldest stuffed bird in Great Britain — West African Grey Parrot ..... John Frostick ....... Rothschild’s Starling in “ Jewel Room ” of the New York Zoo ....... * Baikal Teal and Mandarin Duck Head of adult male Eider ..... Whitefronted Gander trying to sit on Rhea’s egg . Greylag Goose lifting Rhea’s egg into her nest Bewick Swans ..... Whooper and Mute Swans .... The Cob in front raised himself — Mute Swans Victoria Crowned Pigeon on nest Victoria Crowned Pigeon and young . ^Denotes coloured plate facing page i pages 3, 4, and 6 facing page 37 55 83 „ 106 H 109 „ 123 „ 167 page 178 facing page 185 » i85 „ 190 ?3 190 » 191 » 199 » i99 AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE CONTENTS PAGE Traps and Trapping {with plates ), by H. A. Fooks ..... i Breeding of Stanley X Redrump Parrakeet Hybrids, by A. Gargan . . io Reminiscences V, by Flight-Lieut. D. H. S. Risdon . . . . . n Hatching a Hybrid Unawares, by Prof. Evelyn Sprawson . . . 16 An Early Account of Some Perching Birds in the Scampston Collection, by A. F. Moody . . 18 Preparing a Post-war Book on Pheasants, by J. Delacour ... 20 Records of Sunbirds in Aviculture, by J. F. M. Floyd . . . . 23 Notes ............. 36 VOL. 52 No. 1 PRICE 51- JAN.-FEB. 1946 THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY Founded 1894 President : A. EZRA, Esq., O.B.E. MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION is £1 per annum, due on 1st January each year, and payable in advance. Life Membership, £15. Subscriptions, Changes of Address, Names of Candidates for Membership, etc., should be sent The Honorary Secretary and Treasurer , MISS E. MAUD KNOBEL, 86 Regent’s Park Road, London, N.W. 1. Tel.: Primrose 0247. THE AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE is published bi-monthly and sent free to members. Members joining at any time during the year are entitled to back numbers for the current year, on the payment of subscription. ALL MATTER FOR PUBLICATION IN THE MAGAZINE SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO— The Editor , MISS PHYLLIS BARCLAY-SMITH, F.Z.S., 51 Warwick Avenue, Tel. : Cunningham 3006. London, W. 9. The price of the Magazine to non-members is 5$. post free per copy, or £1 10 s. for the year. Orders for the Magazine, extra copies, and back numbers (from 1917) should be sent to the publishers, Messrs. Stephen Austin & Sons, 1 Fore Street, Hertford. Tel. : Hertford 2546-8. POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE Avic. Mag. 1946. Bird-catching by means of “ Telescopic Bamboo ” and Shield of Twigs woven together to form a Bush. The bird-catcher hiding behind his movable bush pushes himself forward by his toes till within range. AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE THE JOURNAL OF THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY Vol. 52. — No. I. — All rights reserved. JAN.-FEB., 1946 TRAPS AND TRAPPING By H. A. Fooks “ The art of trapping ” is an expression not generally heard in these days of hundred-guinea guns and high-velocity rifles, yet it is in very truth an art of the highest order. During the recent war in Burma, trapping came into its own. From jungle fowl to Japs it was all the same, and every booby-trap and trip-wire laid was very much more effective if laid by a man skilled in trapping. For the airman brought down in the jungle or for the Chindit or deep penetration personnel it meant food with a capital F. Even where supplies were available, compare an already overloaded soldier carrying a shot-gun and cartridges, which after they have been expended renders the gun just a useless lump weighing 6 lb. or more, to a few pieces of string, a piece of wax, and a sharp knife ! It was lucky for a number of units in Burma that they had the help of some of the best trappers in Asia. The Nagas, the Chins, the Kachins, the Karens, and so on perform miracles with pieces of bamboo alone. Traps usually used for small barking deer were enlarged and adapted for the lurking Nip, who suddenly found himself impaled by half a dozen fire-hardened and barbed bamboos, driven well home by a bent bamboo 30 ft. long. Before the war I had the pleasure of going out trapping with some of the hill tribes under more favourable conditions than the last six years, and I learnt that the simpler the trap the better it worked. Reconnaissance is, of course, of primary importance as where to set the trap comes first and foremost. Botany is an essential subject as regards birds, whether they be hardbills or softbills. All birds follow flowers or berries as they bloom or ripen, and when 2 H. A. FOOKS - TRAPS AND TRAPPING once the favourites are known it becomes necessary to look for signs of use around these plants. In hills (up to io5ooo ft. or so) a bush or tree will flower or fruit much earlier at, say, 4,000 ft. than at 8,000 ft., so that it is not very difficult to get above your quarry. I have found it useful to spend a day or two with binoculars and search all the likely places at dawn, and when the birds are found shoot one or two and open their crops. This will give you the necessary knowledge as to their favourite food. Insectivorous birds will follow flowers as insects in their turn follow flowers with a high nectar content, and as the seasons advance these flowers will come into bloom at progressively higher altitudes. I remember going out with Webb (imprisoned by the French in Madagascar) to a place in the Himalayas at an altitude of 4,500 ft. We were after the Fire-tailed Sunbird. They were feeding on a creeper which bore masses of small glutinous white flowers round which swarmed a mass of small flies. These flowers appeared to bloom only for one day or, what was more likely, they lost their attraction or scent in a short time and this necessitated us going up at least 500 ft. every two or three days. I remember finally seeing these Sunbirds, after I had left Webb at 13,000 some odd feet, feeding on scarlet rhododendron blossom, and an unforgettable sight they were. Sunbirds are fairly easily caught in nets. The net being double meshed and made of very fine black thread, or even silk. One net has a mesh of some 4 sq. in. while the other may be 1 sq. in. The bird strikes the small mesh and is driven through one of the meshes of the larger net which then forms the mouth of a bag. If one bird is caught it can be used as a call bird, especially if it is a cock, as most Sunbirds are particularly pugnacious. If a call bird is used a single limed twig is stuck into the wires of the cage. Salad oil quickly applied will soon get rid of the lime, and the bird popped into a soft cloth bag will keep quite still while being carried. I once saw an Indian hillman catch eighteen Sunbirds with an Owl and limed twigs. He first pegged his Owl on a perch within a foot of the ground and surrounded it with temptingly placed limed perches about 6 ft. to 10 ft. away. These twigs were 4 ft. to 5 ft. over the Owl and very soon birds started to arrive and were quickly bagged. The Sunbirds came in three flocks and after “ dive bombing ” the Owl settled on the surrounding twigs and were caught. These birds were Mrs. Gould’s Sunbirds, some of which I kept for over four years in perfect plumage, and I think Mr. Delacour saw them at my house in Calcutta. Sunbirds appear to be the most sensible birds as they scarcely H. A. FOOKS- — TRAPS AND TRAPPING 3 A KACHVtH TRA.P' FOR RODENTS AtrA V> BAMBOO P^RTR\D&e’S. it is set in Runs in banBooclumps. THE: OR AH |MM PUSHES THE TRi&&eR stick aside in c^asmer. mmm MAVML-X LlSED POR JUMCiLE No. 617. Webb brought several 1933 — Avic. Mag., 1933, pp. 148, 194 (but entered in the Zoo Annual Report as “ New ” = 616, c.). Drepanorhynchus, Fischer and Reichenow, 1884. Monotypic. Golden-winged Sunbird, Drepanorhynchus reichenowi, Fischer. (Yellow-fringed Sunbird, Shelley.) Uganda, Kilimanjaro. Shelley, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1884, p. 556, pi. 51. Avic. Mag., 1924, pi. p. 1. Webb brought about six, May, 1933. A very striking species with its yellow and black plumage and very curved bill. New to Zoo — Zoo Report, 1933. “ A presented (Chaplin), May, 1933. New.” and two or three more, 1934. One at least still at Zoo, 1937. Webb sold all his Sunbirds, at least twenty, almost the first day. Anthobaphes, Cabanis, 1850. Wedge-tailed Sunbird, Anthobaphes violaceus (L.).‘ Western Cape Province. J. F. M. FLOYD— -RECORDS OF SUNBIRDS IN AVICULTURE Shelley, Mon. Ned ., p. 23, pi. 8. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 16. “ One has been kept at the Cape for three months ” — Bird Notes , viii, p. 99. Delacour had one four years about 1920. “ One new (deposited) at Zoo., Sept., 1930 ” — Z°° Report, 1930, No. 617 a. Chalcostetha, Cabanis, 1851. Maklot’s Sunbird, Chalcostetha calcostetha (Jardine). East Indian Islands. Tenasserim to Singapore. Siam. Shelley, Mon. Ned., pp. xxv, 37, pi. 30. Nat. Lib., xvi, p. 274, pi. 25. Robinson and Kloss, Birds of Malay Peninsula, vol. 2, p. 308, pi. “ About twenty-five years ago a male lived a long time at the Berlin Zoo ” — Neunzig, p. 106. Avic. Mag., 1924, p. 313. Delacour. Aethopyga, Cabanis, 1851. Yellow-backed Sunbirds. Black-breasted Yellow-backed Sunbird, Aethopyga saturata (Hodgson). Himalayas. Shelley, Mon. Ned., pp. xx, xxi, 35, pi. 1 1. Nat. Lib., xvi, p. 28, pi. Bird Notes, 1916, p. 75, plate not in good colour. “ Mrs. Bourke has a young one.” Delacour, Avic. Mag., 1924. Siparaja Sunbird, Malayan Yellow-backed Sunbird, Aethopyga siparaja siparaja (Raffles). Malaya, Java, Sumatra, etc. Shelley, Mon. Ned., p. 57, pi. 19. No record of importation, 1934. E. H. Indian Yellow-backed Sunbird, Aethopyga siparaja seheriae (Tickell). Foothills of Himalayas. Kuman to East Assam and East Bengal. Shelley, Mon. Ned., pi. 22. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 26. Avic. Mag., 1914, p. 89, pi. ; 1924, p. 309. Zoo List, No. 618. “ In Count Segur’s Collection, 1914. A common cagebird in its own country, where it lives a long time on sugar-water, biscuit, and milk alternately with honey.” Neunzig, p. 107. “ Fairly often imported ” — Delacour. Ezra has had this and many other Sunbirds. Vigor’s Yellow-backed Sunbird, Aethopyga siparaja vigorsi (Sykes). West coast of India. Shelley, Mon. Ned., pi. 23. Brought by Frost — Chaplin, 1931. New to Zoo, July, 1931 — Z°° Report, 1931, No. 61 8a. 26 J. F. M. FLOYD - RECORDS OF SUNBIRDS IN AVICULTURE A. siparaja mangeni, Delacour and Jabouille. Annam. Webb brought it in 1928 — Delacour, 1934, and Cordier in 1939 — Delacour, Avic. Mag., 1939, p. 268. Fire- tailed Yellow-backed Sunbird, Aeihopyga ignicauda, Hodgson. Nepal to Kuman. Shelley, Mon. Ned., p. xx, pi. 15. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 29. Webb brought one, first importation, May, 1936, taken by Mrs. Wharton-Tigar. Nicobar Yellow-backed Sunbird, Aethopyga siparaja nicobarica, Hume. Nicobars. Shelley, Mon. Nect., pi. 20. One was brought by Chaplin, 1936, first importation. Annamese Yellow-backed Sunbird, Aethopyga dabryii (Verraux). Burmese Provinces, South-west China. Shelley, Mon. Nect., pp. vv, xxi, 39, pi. 13. Brought by Cordier from Indo-China, 1939 — Delacour, Avic. Mag., 1939, P- 268 (“ ? in eclipse plumage ” — Delacour). Nepal Yellow-backed Sunbird, Aethopyga nipalensis nipalensis (Hodgson). Eastern Himalayas. Shelley, Mon. Nect., pp. xx, xxi, 29, pi. 10. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 27. “ Has been imported ” — Delacour. Ezra has had it. Horsfield’s Yellow-backed Sunbird, Aethopyga nipalensis horsfieldi (Blyth). Himalayas (Garhwal and Kuman). Shelley, Mon. Nect., pp. xx, 33, pi. 10. “ Has been imported ” — Delacour. Ezra had it. Qne was deposited in the Zoo — Z00 Report, 1933. Chaplin brought one to Balcombe, but it died in a few days. (Was it this or N. nipalensis — Chaplin.)— E. H. Leptocoma, Cabanis, 1851. Loten’s Sunbird, Leptocoma lotenia (L.). Ceylon and South India. Shelley, Mon. Ned., pi. 56. Nat. Lib., xvi, pp. 220, 263. pi. “ Seldom imported, but the Berlin Zoo had one for a long time ” — Neunzig, p. 108. J. F. M. FLOYD - RECORDS OF SUNBIRDS IN AVICULTURE 2J “ Has been imported ” — Delacour. In 1936 Chaplin hand-reared one in Ceylon and brought it home and gave it to Ezra. Avic., i, p. 255. Van Hasselt’s Sunbird, Leptocoma brasiliana (Gmelin). Malaya to Assam, Java, Sumatra, Borneo. Shelley, Mon. Nect ., pi. 42. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 22. Ezra had two in 1929, which still flourished 1932, and I think, later. See also UOiseau , 1930, p. 404. Chaplin had a perfect specimen of L. b. emmae , Delacour, from Cambodia, May, 1936 (Moyne Collection). New to Zoo, 1931 — Z00 Report (Haseltii). Frost brought one in 1939 — Avic. Mag., 1939, p. 300. Purple Sunbird, Leptocoma asiatica asiatica (Latham). India and Ceylon. Shelley, Mon. Nect., pi. 57. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 24. Avic. Mag., 1899, p. 41; 191 1, p. 201 ; 1913^.327; 1924^.309. Bird Notes, 1911, pp. 101, 131 ; 1913, ^.40; 1915^.19; 1916, p. 17, pi “ The most commonly imported of all Sunbirds — love play — can be kept in the open.” Neunzig, p. 108, No. 619. Z00 List, p. 170. “ Eggs have been hatched at the Zoo, and Brook had eggs ” — Delacour, Avic. Mag., 1924, p. 310. We had one for a time in 1933 ; one of Chaplin’s which had escaped and was found half-dead in the Balcombe House garden in June. It died suddenly in August. — E. H. L. a. intermedia (Hume). East Bengal to Southern China. Chaplin had a pair of this more brilliant subspecies in 1933. Amethyst- or Purple-rumped Sunbird, Leptocoma zeylonica (L.). Ceylon and India. Shelley, Mon. Nect., pi. 45. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 20. Bird Notes , 1912, pp. 233, 250. Avic. Mag., 1913, p. 289. No. 620, Z00 List. “ Has lived for many years in the Berlin Zoo — in their native country common in captivity and fed on sugar- water, honey, jam (? fruit- jelly), and raspberries ’’—Neunzig, p. 109. Ezra has had a good many and also the Zoo. Chaplin had one in May, 1936, which he had hand-reared on Lord Moyne’s yacht the previous year. Cyrtostomus, Cabanis, 1851. Yellow-breasted Sunbirds. Yellow-breasted Sunbird, Cyrtostomus frenatus (Muller). 28 J. F. M. FLOYD - RECORDS OF SUNBIRDS IN AVICULTURE New Guinea. Shelley, Mon. Nect ., pi. 49. Mayer brought one male, July, 1933. This was “ a deposited ”, July, 1933 — Z°° Report , 1933, and Chaplin gave another, see Avic. Mag., 1933, p. 226. Burmese Yellow-breasted Sunbird, Cyrtostomus flammaxillaris flam - maxillaris (Blyth). Burma, Siam, Malaya. Shelley, Mon. Nect ., pi. 51. Stuart Baker, Birds of India , vol. 3, p. 403, vol. 7, p. 288. Webb brought it in 1928 — Delacour. Cyrtostomus flammaxillaris andamanica (Hume). Chaplin had one in 1936. Malay Yellow-breasted Sunbird, Cyrtostomus pectoralis pectoralis (Horsfield). Malaya to Sunda, etc. Shelley, Mon. Nect., pi. 53. ? imported. Cyrtostomus pectoralis procelia (Oberholser). Nicobars. Chaplin brought one in 1936. New, Zoo 1931 — Z°o Report. Stuart Baker, Birds of India , vol. vii, p. 282. Annamese Yellow-breasted Sunbird, Cyrtostomus rhizophorae (Swinhoe). Shelley, Mon. Nect., p. 163, pi. 52. Brought by Cordier from Indo-China, 1939 — Delacour, Avic. Mag., i939> P- 268. Hermotimia, Reichenbach, 1853. Black Sunbirds. New Guinea Black Sunbird, Hermotimia sericea sericea (Lesson). New Guinea. Shelley, Mon. Nect., pi. 37, fig. 2. Not imported. Duke of York Island Black Sunbird, Hermotimia sericea corinna , Salvadori. Bismarck Archipelago. Shelley, Mon. Nect., pi. 39. Mayer brought five, July, 1933. Whitley had one at least. Chaplin gave one (or two) to the Zoo. See Z°o Report, 1933. “ a-b, deposited. New. July, 1933.” Cinnyris, Cuvier, 1817. Abyssinian Splendid Sunbird, Cinnyris hubessinicus (Hemprich and Ehrenberg) . Abyssinia to North-east Uganda. Shelley, Mon. Nect., p. 205, pi. 63. J. F. M. FLOYD - RECORDS OF SUNBIRDS IN AVICULTURE 29 One New to Zoo, Nov., 1931, No. 624a — Z00 Report, 1931. Berlin Zoo, 1933 —Die Gefiederte Welt , 1933, p. 350. Bifasciated Sunbird, Cinnyris hifasciatus bifasciatus (Shaw). Gaboon south to Mossamedes and east to Ruwenzori. Shelley, Mon. Ned., p. 217, pi. 66. “ Has been imported ” — Delacour, Avic. Mag., 1924, p. 309, but does he mean the next — Z00 List, No. 621 ? Little Bifasciated Sunbird, East Coast Bifasciated Sunbird, Cinnyris bifasciatus microrhynchus, Shelley. East Africa. Shelley, Mon. Ned., pi. 67. First specimen received, Dec., 1927, No. 621 — Z00 List. Mariqua Sunbird, Southern Bifasciated Sunbird, Cinnyris bifasciatus mariquensis, Smith. Western Transvaal. Shelley, Mon. Ned., p. 21 1, pi. 65. Nat. Lib., xvi, pp. 174, 250, pi. 4. Avic. Mag., 1929, p. 54. “ Imported into France in 1914.” Neunzig, p. 109. No. 624 in Zoo List. One was shown by Maxwell at the Crystal Palace Show, Feb., 1927 — Avic. Mag., 1927, p. 86. Ezra had one, 1933, brought by Webb from East Africa, presumably C. b. osiris (Finsch). — E. H. Splendid Sunbird, Cinnyris coccinigaster. Senegal to Uele, etc. Shelley, Mon. Ned., p. 201, pi. 62. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 5, male. Shelley, Birds of Africa, vol. 2, p. 45. Bates, Birds of West Africa , p. 457. Avic. Mag., 1940, p. 57, pi. Webb brought some from Gold Coast, 1937 — Avic. Mag., 1937, p. 183. New to Zoo — Z00 Report, 1937. Copper Sunbird, Cinnyris cupreus (Shaw). Senegal to Congo. New to Zoo — Z00 Report, 1938. — Webb, Avic. Mag., 1937, p. 153. — Wharton-Tigar, p. 183. White-bellied Sunbird, Cinnyris talatala, Smith. South Africa. Count Segur, one, 1914. Neunzig. New, Zoo, 1937 — Z00 Report. Superb Sunbird, Cinnyris superbus (Shaw). Cameroon to North Angola and East Uganda. Shelley, Mon. Ned., p. 197, pi. Webb brought three from Cameroon, April, 1935. The Zoo had one. New- — Z00 Report, 1935. Ezra had another, see Avic. Mag., 3o J. F. M. FLOYD - RECORDS OF SUNBIRDS IN AVICULTURE 1935, p. 158. It had previously been imported to Germany — Delacour, Avic., 1936. Webb brought more from Gold Coast, 1937. Tiny Sunbird, Cinnyris minullus , Reichenow. Cameroon. Bates, Birds of West Africa , p. 458. Ibis , 191 1) p. 610, pi. egg ; 1924, p. 251. Brought by Webb from Cameroon, April, 1935 — Avic. Mag., 1935. p- 158. Anjouan Sunbird, Cinnyris comorensis , Peters. Anjouan. Shelley, Mon. Ned., pi. 68. “ Imported within the last two years ” — Delacour, Aviculture y vol. 1, 1926. Madagascar Buff-breasted Sunbird, Cinnyris sovimanga (Gmelin). Madagascar. Shelley, Mon. Ned ., pi. 76. “Recently imported 55 — Delacour, Aviculture, vol. i, 1936. Buff-breasted Sunbird, Cinnyris venustus venustus Shaw and Nodder. Senegal to North Cameroon. Shelley, Mon. Ned ., p. 235, pi. 74, figs. 1, 3. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 7. “ In France in 1914 ” — -Neunzig, p. 109. Zoo Report , 1933, entry : “ C. venustus (Shaw) New, a deposited. Dec. 29, 1933. 35 I think this bird was Chaplin’s falkensteini.—E. H. Falkenstein’s Sunbird, Kenya Burf-breasted Sunbird, Cinnyris venustus falkensteini , Fischer and Reichenow. Kenya to Tanganyika. Shelley, Birds of Africa , vol. 2, p. 66, pi. 3, fig. 1 . Avic. Mag., 1924, p. 1, pL Webb brought one in 1933. Ezra took it and gave it later to Chaplin. The only one so far imported, was “ No. 621, a deposited, New Z00 Report, 1933. Cinnyris venustus fazoglensis (Heuglin). Abyssinia and Eritrea. Shelley, Mon. Ned., pi. 74, fig. 2. Shelley, Birds of Africa, vol. 2, p, 64. Delacour told me (1934) that he and others had the “ Abyssinian subspecies of venustus ” in 1933. — E. H. Greater Double-collared Sunbird, Cinnyris afer (L.). South Africa. Shelley, Mon. Ned., p. 249, pi. 77. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 2. Male and female. J, F. M. FLOYD - RECORDS OF SUNBIRDS IN AVICULTURE 3 1 44 France, 1914” — Neunzig, p. 109. 44 Imported ” — Delacour. No. 622, Z00 List. Lesser Double-collared Sunbird, Cinnyris chalybeus (L.). South Africa. Shelley, Mon. Ned., p. 253, pi. 78. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 1. Bird Motes, 1913, p. 379. 44 In 1914 there were four in a Paris collection ” — Neunzig, p. no. Was this Segur’s ? Kenya Double-collared Sunbird, Cinnyris mediocris mediocris Shelley. Highlands of Kenya. Shelley, Birds of Africa, vol. 2, p. 79, pi. 3, fig. 1. Brought by Webb, 1933. This was New to Zoo, No. 624, b — Zoo Report, 1933. Cinnyris mediocris usambaricus . Usambara. Brought by Webb, 1934— Webb, A vie. Mag., 1934, pp. 189, 213. Olive-bellied Sunbird, Cinnyris chloropygius chloropygius (Jardine). Gold Coast and Southern Nigeria. Shelley, Mon. Ned., p. 257, pi. 79. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 3. Cinnyris chloropygius lahderi Reichenow. Cameroon. The Zoo had one brought by Webb which I saw, May, 1935. 44 Bought by Zoo. New. 1935 — Z00 Report, 1935. For African Sunbirds kept in Africa by Hosier see A vie. Mag., 1924, p. 31 1. Chalcomitra, Reichenbach, 1853. Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Chalcomitra senegalensis senegalenis (L.). Senegal to Inland Gold Coast, Togo, and Northern Nigeria. Shelley, Mon. Ned., p. 267, pi. 83. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. n. I saw one at Ezra’s, July, 1932, which Delacour had brought over for Lord Tavistock and Decoux tells me (in Lit., July, 1932) that he also has one, 44 the second time the species has been imported to France.”— E. H. One in Zoo 1935 (Chaplin’s). Kenya Highlands Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Chalcomitra senegalensis lamperti (Reichenow). Highlands of Kenya. 44 A New, Zoo, 1933 ” — Z00 Report, 1933, was brought by Webb 32 J. F. M. FLOYD - RECORDS OF SUNBIRDS IN AVICULTURE who had several. Webb brought more in 1934, but they were C. s. aequatorialis, see below. Uganda Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Chalcomitra senegalensis aequatorialis (Reichenow). Uganda to Kenya. Delacour, Aviculture , vol. i, 1936. Brought by Webb, 1934. I bought one. It escaped, May, 1935. — E. H. Natal Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Scarlet-breasted Sunbird (goo List), Chalcomitra senegalensis gutturalis (L.). Natal to Nyasaland, etc. Shelley, Mon . Meet., p. 261, pi. 81. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 12. “ Were first put on the market at the end of 1912 by Ditzell of Leipzig, and four specimens were in Herr Pracht’s collection ” — Neunzig, p. 112. No. 625, goo List. “ At the Zoo recently ” — Delacour, Avic. Mag., 1924. “ Gamage had some in 1926 ” — UOiseau, 1927, p. 62. Amethyst Sunbird, Greater Amethyst Sunbird, Chalcomitra amethystina amethystina (Shaw). South Africa. Shelley, Mon. Ned., pi. 84. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 13. Bird Notes, 1913, p. 379. Avic. Mag., 1914, p. 231, pi. 1924 (Delacour). “ In 1914 in . . . Herr Pracht’s collection at Dusseldorf ” — Neunzig, p. hi. Kirk’s Amethyst Sunbird, Chalcomitra amethystina kirkii (Shelley). Zambesi Valley to South-Western Tanganyika. Shelley, Mon. Ned., pi. 85. Shelley, Birds of Africa , vol. 2, p. 107. Stark and Sclater, Birds of South Africa, p. 289. Ibis., 1908, p. 40. “ One New, deposited, Zoo, 26th September, 1935 ” — goo Report, 1935- Green-throated Sunbird, Chalcomitra angolensis angolensis (Lesson). Cameroon, East to Uganda, etc. Shelley, Mon. Ned., pi. 87. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 15. Shelley, Birds of Africa, vol. 2, p. in. Bates, Birds of West Africa, p. '459. Brought by Webb from Cameroon, 1935 — Avic. Mag., 1935, p. 158. J. F. M. FLOYD - RECORDS OF SUNBIRDS IN AVICULTURE 33 Buff-throated Sunbird, Chalcomitra angolensis adelberti (Gervais). Senegal to Gold Coast. New. Zoo. 1937 — Z00 Report. Carmelite Sunbird, Chalcomitra fuliginosa (Shaw). Senegal to Congo. Shelley, Mon. Nect ., p. 275, pi. 86. Shelley, Birds of Africa , vol. 2, p. 109. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 14. Bates, Birds of West Africa, p. 455. Webb brought one, or more, from Gold Coast — Avic. Mag., 1937, P. 183. Cyanomitra, Reichenbach, 1854. Green-headed Sunbird, Cyanomitra verticalis verticalis (Latham). Senegal to Lower Nigeria. Shelley, Mon. Nect., p. 301, pi. 97. Shelley, Birds of Africa, vol. 2, p. 127. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 10, male and female. Swainson, Birds of West Africa, vol. 2, p. 136, pi. 16. Bates, Birds of West Africa, p. 454. One New. Zoo. 1938 — Z00 Report, 1938. Cyanomitra verticalis cyanocephala (Shaw). Cameroon to Gaboon, Katanga, etc. Webb brought this from Cameroon, April, 1935 — Avic. Mag., 1935, p. 158. Anthreptes Swainson, 1837. Collared Sunbird, Southern Collared Sunbird. Anthreptes collaris collaris (Vieillot). East Cape Province to Natal, etc. Shelley, Mon. Nect., p. 339, pi. no. Nat. Lib., xvi, pi. 6, male and female. No. 628, Z00 List. A pair at the Zoo from Natal — Avic. Mag., 1920, p. 158. They were sent by Millar and lived at least a year. Delacour mentions the species — Avic. Mag., 1924. Webb brought six or more from Tanganyika, May, 1934. Chaplin took them, and gave us one ; it escaped in a few days. — E. H. Tropical Collared Sunbird, Anthreptes collaris hypodilus (Jardine). Fernando Po. Cameroon to Northern Angola and East to Northern Uganda. “ Gamage had some in 1926, a first importation ” — L’Oiseau, 1927, p. 62. No. 628a, Z00 List. First specimen received at Zoo, December, 1927 — Z00 List. They may have been, or probably were, next — cf. habitat. And brought by Webb from Cameroon, April, 1935 — Avic. Mag., !935> P- 158. 3 34 J. F. M. FLOYD — RECORDS OF SUNBJRDS IN AVICULTURE Upper Guinea Collared Sunbird, Anthreptes collaris subcollaris (Hardaub) . Senegal to Gold Coast and Southern Nigeria. See above. Mombasa Collared Sunbird, Anthreptes collaris elachior , Mearns. Coastal, Kenya. “ Imported 53 — Delacour, Aviculture , vol. i, 1936. Violet-backed Sunbird, Anthreptes longuemarei longuemarei (Lesson). Senegal, Gambia, and Portuguese Guinea. Shelley, Mon. Meet ., pi. 108. Swainson, Birds of West Africa , vol. 2, p. 144, pi. 17. Illustrations of Z°ology> pi- “ Gamage, 1926 : first importation 53 — VOiseau , 1927, p. 62, but Chaplin says “ never been over 33 and I expect he is right. I kept one once in Gambia. E. H. In May, 1934, Webb brought one from Tanganyika, which Chaplin took presumably. Anthreptes longuemarei neglectus , O. Neumann. Tanganyika — Sclater, Syst. Ethiop. Plain Sunbird, Anthreptes simplex (S. Muller). Borneo and Sumatra. Shelley, Mon. Meet., pi. 100. One at the Zoo, December, 1930. No. 628a, Green Sunbird, a presented by St. Alban Smith, June, 1930. New — Z00 Report , 1930. Malacca Sunbird, Brown-throated Sunbird, Anthreptes malacensis (Scopoli). Siam, Annam to Singapore ; Sumatra, Java, Borneo, etc. Shelley, Mon. Meet., pi. 101, fig. 2. Birds of Singapore , p. 224, pi. “ No. 628a. New. One, presented by Chaplin, 26th January, 1930 ” — Z00 Report , 1930. Chaplin gave us one, January, 1933, it escaped, August, 1936, in perfect condition. — E. H. Rufous-throated Sunbird, Anthreptes rhodoUma, Shelley. . Tenasserim to Sumatra and Borneo. Shelley, Mon. Meet., p. 313, pi. 101. Chaplin has had two specimens of this, 1933. Grey-chinned Sunbird, Anthreptes tephrol&ma tephrolama (Jardine and Fraser). West Africa. Shelley, Mon. Meet., pi. 72, fig. 2. Brought by Webb from Cameroon, April, 1935 — Avic. Mag., 1935, P. 158. NOTES 35 Anthreptes tephrolcema rubritorques, Reichenow. Usambara, Tanganyika. Webb brought one, 1934 ; Chaplin took it. Spider-hunters. Arachnothera, Temminck and Laugier, 1826. Larger Spider-hunter, Arachnothera magna (Hodgson). Himalayas to Tarasserim, etc. Shelley, Mon. Nect., pi. 112, fig. 1. Bird Notes, 1913, p. 132, cut. Perreau in Bird Notes , 1913, describes one he brought over at that time. Later Ezra had two which he gave to the Zoo. No. 627. Z00 List. Delacour ( Avic . Mag., 1924) mentions the species. Coodfellow (November, 1929) brought two or three Spider-hunters from Borneo for Spedan Lewis. These, judging from the Z00 Report, must have been the next — Arachnorhaphis, Reichenbach, 1854. Robust Spider-hunter, Arachnorhaphis robusta, Muller and Schlegel. Sumatra and Borneo. Shelley, Mon. Nect., pi. 118. “ 1 New. Presented by Spedan Lewis, November, 1929 55 — Z00 Report , 1929. (Must have been one of those brought over by Good- fellow.) # * * NOTES Erratum It is much regretted that in error Mr. Howard J. Stevens’ name was included in the Obituary List published in the last number of the Avicultural Magazine instead of that of Mr. John Stephens. Sincere apologies are offered to Mr. Stevens and also to any of his friends who may have been caused anxiety by the mistake. Royal Zoological Society of South Australia The following extract is taken from %p° News, May-June, 1945, issued by the Royal Zoological Society of South Australia : — ‘ Much of interest in a Zoo is missed by those who give most exhibits only a super¬ ficial examination. If more time is spent watching an animal, the visitor will very likely be rewarded by seeing something that is overlooked by the casual passer-by. (The term “ animal ” is here used in its correct comprehensive sense and might mean reptile, bird, or mammal.) Even a small Finch busily bathing itself is a sight well worth seeing or a parent bird feeding its young. Among the larger animals also one may note various idiosyncrasies of habit or movement if sufficient time is spent in observation. Many species have habits or actions which are peculiar to their kind but it is not always possible to assign a reason for such. If a bird inspects an object, first with one eye and then with the other, such as a Magpie might do, it is obvious that it is only making sure of seeing correctly that which holds its interest. On the other hand, various species make movements or go through certain ritual performances, the significance of which is obscure. This is specially notable in the avian world. 36 NOTES These observations are also applicable to various vocal noises produced by many animals, often as accompaniments to certain stereotyped movements. Generally speaking, the characteristics referred to can be divided into three classes : — 1 . Purely utilitarian. 2. Display (usually made by the male to the female in the breeding season and chiefly among birds). 3. Of obscure significance. In this regard it might therefore be of interest to comment on a few observations made in the Zoo. Although we have mentioned characteristic movements of animals, the first matter of interest referred to below, deals with lack of movement or counter-action of movement. However, it rightly belongs to this subject. A remarkable faculty possessed by some birds is the ability to hold the head absolutely still, in relation to its surroundings, while the body moves. The Ostrich exemplifies the application of this faculty in one form. If some object attracts the bird’s attention while walking, it can hold its head immobile while the body is still being carried forward. When a certain distance is traversed, the head is thrust forward, and again held stationary while the body catches up, so to speak, the action being repeated according to requirements. In these circumstances, if an observer can watch the Ostrich’s head in relation to some near-by fixed object, he cannot detect the slightest movement. Holding the head steady, presumably enables the bird to more satisfactorily watch an object of interest while permitting it to continue walking. The Ostrich does not always utilize this faculty but does so if observing something calling for special attention. On other occasions, when on the move, the head is carried forward at the same constant speed as the body. When running the bird makes no effort to hold the head still, this, no doubt, being practically impossible at speed. Although the Cassowary, Emu, and Rhea are birds of very similar build to the Ostrich, they apparently are not endowed with the same faculty. The ability to hold the head still while the body moves is also possessed by other species of birds, but is used for a different purpose. In this instance its application enables a bird to counteract the movement of a swaying perch or bough on which it might be sitting. Of course, there is a limit to the movement for which a bird can make compensating adjustment, depending on the size of the bird and the travel of the moving perch. Obviously, if a perch is making considerable movement, the whole bird must move with it. However, where the bird can compensate for any movement, it will again be noted that the head is absolutely rigid in relation to any other fixed object. There may be two reasons for a bird in these circumstances wishing to hold its head steady. As in the case of the Ostrich, one reason could be to more effectively inspect an object of interest. The other might be an instinctive act to prevent “ seasickness ” which may result from swaying of the head if too long sustained. This power of preventing movement of the head while the body is moving indicates the provision by nature of some miracle of “ automatic mechanism ”. Doubtless this is actuated by a stimulus received through the eyes. If this is so, presumably the eyes are adjusted to certain fixed objects as “ sights ” to correct or prevent any movement. If a bird is at the same time inspecting some object of interest, this object might be used as a “ sight ”. As the principles of the camera are largely copied from the eye, so also, it would seem, recently invented range-finding instruments and the like, must be very similar in principle to the “ mechanism ” with which birds are endowed for the purpose mentioned. It would be interesting to know whether a bird, having lost the sight of one eye, could still exercise the faculty referred to, or whether this loss would render its “ mechanism ” inoperative. The matter suggests an interesting field for investigation and experiment. Further observations bearing on this subject will be made in the next issue of Zoo News .’ [ The Editor does not accept responsibility for opinions expressed in articles and correspondence.'] CANDIDATES FOR ELECTION Ralph Brown, Coniston, Cawder Crescent, Dunblane, Perthshire. Proposed by T. R. Holmes Watkins. Heer Francois Haverschmidt, Paramaribo, Surinam, Dutch Guyana. Proposed by Phyllis Barclay-Smith. S/Sgt. A. L. Penny, 118 Guestville Avenue, Toronto 9, Canada. Proposed by Mrs. Effie Clark. James Taylor, Victoria House, Blisworth, Northants. Proposed by E. Maud Knobel. REJOINED Mrs. C. Younger, 194 Cranmer Court, Sloane Avenue, S.W. 3. NEW MEMBERS Hylton Blythe, New Inn, Hurstpierpoint, Sussex. Frank Bulbeck, Yew Tree Cottage, Partridge Green, Horsham, Sussex. T. W. H. Crewe, 195 Edenway, Eden Park, Beckenham, Kent. H. Douthwaite, 458 Victoria Avenue, Blackley, Manchester. George William Humphreys, Woodgate, Battenhall Avenue, Worcester. W. Lewis, Milnsbridge, Bicton, Shrewsbury. Cyril C. Roote, 116 Cardinals Walk, Scraptoft Lane, Leicester. Miss Marguerite Terry, i Glenroyd, 26 Cleveland Road, Jersey, Channel Islands. A. J. Underwood, 24 Wellington Street, Kettering, Northants. DONATIONS £ s . d. J. Sped an Lewis . 1000 Arthur Lamb . . 220 Lady Poltimore . 400 Miss Chawner . 100 Capt. Scott-Hopkins 120 MEMBERS’ ADVERTISEMENTS The charge for Members' advertisements is one penny per word. Payment must accompany the advertisement , which must be sent on or before the soth of the month , to Miss E. Maud Knobel, 86 Regent’s Park Road, N.W. i. All members of the Society are entitled to use this column , but the Council reserves the right to refuse any advertisements they consider unsuitable. FOR SALE Avicultural Magazines (bound) from 1902 ; also unbound. Offers. — Mrs. Dennis, Holme Manor, Pulborough. WANTED Bird Notes, vols. 1904 to 1907 ; also Rowley’s Ornithological Miscellany, vol. i. — H. A. Mitchell, 130 Broomhill Drive, Broomhill, Glasgow, W. 1. Books wanted : Birds of New Guinea and any good bird Monographs. — Tom Goodwin, “ Aves,” Kiln Lane, Ripley, Surrey. Wanted by Madame Malisoux, Beez, Namur, Belgium. One adult Chinqui hen and one Koklass cock. Could exchange for Satyr or Blyth hen. — Please communicate Secretary to Mr. J. Spedan Lewis, Longstock House, Stockbridge, Hants. Wanted, Monographs or other books on Ornithology, Aviculture, Cagebirds, Gamebirds, Waterfowl ; must be perfect. — John Frostick, Minster Precincts, Peterborough. Absolutely Indispensable to Aviculturists . . . “ AVICULTURE,” Vol. I, £1 Os. 9 d. (Pols. II and III out of print.) A mine of information on birds of all kinds, compiled by leading authorities on every branch of aviculture. ★ “ Index Guide to the Avicultural Magazine, 1894-1930.” By E. H. 5s. Cloth Boards. ★ To he obtained, from: MESSRS. STEPHEN AUSTIN & SONS, LTD., 1 FORE STREET, HERTFORD, HERTS. For back numbers of the Avicultural Magazine apply also to the Publishers at the above address. ★ The originals of the plates published in the Avicultural Magazine may be, in most cases, purchased ; apply to the Secretary : MISS KNOBEL, 86 REGENT’S PARK ROAD, LONDON, N.W.l. STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, HERTFORD. AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE MAY 12 1948 Yj, a BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY NUMBER CONTENTS PAGE The “ Birds at Semi-liberty ” Number (with plate), by Prebendary Sweetnam 37 Redrump Parrakeets at Liberty, by M. D. England ..... 38 The Gage-door is Open, by Sir Godfrey Davis 39 Some British Birds at Semi-liberty, by V. A. V. Carr .... 45 Good Birds at Liberty, by Guy Falkner ....... 47 The Spectacled Jay-thrush at Liberty in California, by A. H. Isenberg and T. F. M. Williamson. . . 48 My Experience of Liberty Birds, by D. H. S. Risdon . 50 A Black-headed Gull and Other Birds at Semi-liberty, by Clare I. Capron 55 Some Birds at Semi-liberty, by John Yealland 59 Birds at Semi-liberty at Villers-Bretonneux and at Cleres (1905-1940), by J. Delacour ........... 64 Black-headed Sibias and Other Birds at Semi-liberty, by A. Sheriff . . 66 Bygone Memories of Semi-captive Birds, by Dr. Maurice Amsler ... 68 Notes . 79 VOL. 52 No. 2 PRICE 5/- MARCH-APRIL 1946 THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY Founded j8q4 President : A. EZRA, Esq., O.B.E. MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION is £i per annum, due on ist January each year, and payable in advance. Life Membership, £15. Subscriptions, Changes of Address, Names of Candidates for Membership, etc., should be sent to — The Honorary Secretary and Treasurer , Tel.: Primrose 0247. MISS E. MAUD KNOBEL, 86 Regent’s Park Road, London, N.W.i. THE AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE is published bi-monthly and sent free to members. Members joining at any time during the year are entitled to back numbers for the current year, on the payment of subscription. ALL MATTER FOR PUBLICATION IN THE MAGAZINE SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO — The Editor , MISS PHYLLIS BAR CLAY-SMITH, F.Z.S., 51 Warwick Avenue, Tel. : Cunningham 3006. London, W. 9. The price of the Magazine to non-members is 55. post free per copy, or £1 105. for the year. Orders for the Magazine, extra copies, and back numbers (from 1917) should be sent to the publishers, Messrs.’ Stephen Austin & Sons, 1 Fore Street, Hertford. Tel. : Hertford 2546-8. POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE Avi. Mag. 1946. Prebendary Sweetnam with Green Glossy Starling Kept at semi-liberty, with its aviary (used as dormitory and feeding place). AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE THE JOURNAL OF THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY Vol. 52. — No. 2.— All rights reserved. MARCH-APRIL, 1946 THE “BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY” NUMBER By Prebendary Sweetnam The gratification with which I read the opening sentence of a recent letter from our Editor stating that sufficient material has been collected for a “ Birds at Semi-Liberty ” number of the Magazine was somewhat dissipated by the further statement that “ I feel it will not be complete without a contribution from the originator of the idea Even if one possessed the journalistic gift of making literary bricks without straw, there would, rightly, be no scope for it in the Avigultural Magazine, and my few straws of experience in keeping birds under such conditions were exhausted in the original article . . . which was written with the avowed intention of obtaining information from others with wider experience in that direction. Failing any contribution worthy of the occasion, I am hoping the Editor will withhold the blue pencil and allow to stand an expression of appreciation, which will certainly be shared by all our members, of the very high standard maintained by the Magazine throughout the war years, when she was faced with such a combination of difficulties that one with less ability and determination would have given up in despair. The average aviculturist can only be induced to contribute articles dealing with birds then, or recently, under observation, but each succeeding year of war reduced the number of such contributors and, even now, the prospects of replenishing our grass-grown aviaries in the near future are not too bright. Within the past few months I have unwillingly joined the ranks of the birdless ones with the loss, after seven years of semi-liberty, of “ Joey ”, my beloved little Senegal Parrot. His end is still a mystery. An hour after he had been seen on his accustomed place at the kitchen window he had completely disappeared, and an exhaustive search 37 4 38 M. D. ENGLAND - REDRUMP PARRAKEETS AT LIBERTY failed to reveal as much as a green or orange feather anywhere, nor was there any response to the repeated calls to which, on former occasions when a sudden fright had induced him to take flight, he had always responded. To record the loss of such a friend in feathers might well be taken as a warning to those who still possess any to preserve their pets within the comparative safety of cage or aviary, rather than risk a like loss by allowing them even semi-liberty. But for myself I think otherwise, and still believe the pleasure to be derived from birds so kept far outweighs the risk it entails, and that every other “Joey ” would agree with me that, had they the choice, they would vote for the freedom with the risk rather than captivity without it. In aviculture, as in life, those who will take no risks are like to miss the best it has to give. * * * REDRUMP PARRAKEETS AT LIBERTY By M. D. England In 1942 I made some trials with the Redrump Parrakeet ( Psephotus hamatonotus) at liberty. The male of pair A was liberated for periods of about an hour several times a day, while his mate was on eggs and chicks, by simply leaving the aviary door open. The hen made no attempt to leave the aviary. He fed on or near the ground, so far as I could see chiefly on dandelion, sorrel, and chickweed, and returned at intervals to feed his mate or young. Seven eggs, five young reared. The cock of pair B had complete liberty during the egg and young stage, a small door being left permanently open. Again the hen made no attempt to leave. He ranged over a much wider area than cock A, and roosted in a high elm 200 yards from the aviary. This led to his undoing, for one night a Tawny Owl had him. The hen reared the young alone. Seven eggs, three reared (six fertile, but three dead in shell). Pair G provided an expensive experiment. They were kept without a nest-box, and one morning were liberated together , a number of nest- boxes having been put up in the garden. They immediately set out for Australia, and within a minute were specks on the horizon. It is noteworthy that although the three aviaries were within ten yards of each other, no fights or even “ visitations ” took place. Nothing could be more beautiful than a cock Redrump flying about the garden, and provided he is shut in at night he appears to make an ideal liberty bird. SIR GODFREY DAVIS — THE GAGE-DOOR IS OPEN 39 THE CAGE-DOOR IS OPEN By Sir Godfrey Davis We are, I suppose, most of us creatures of circumstance, so that now, except for periods of leave, I have been an exile for more than thirty years ; for five- years of that the war is responsible and throughout all these years I have never possessed an aviary. I did think when I came here to do what, I then thought, was the last five years of my service, that I might have an aviary, but the experience of those who had tried was not encouraging. Snakes will get through half-inch mesh wire netting, though after having swallowed a bird, they cannot get out. Only a few days ago we found a snake, which had in some manner got into the converted stable where I keep my birds, half in and half out of a' cage where there had been two Black-headed Munias, and where now there was only one, at least outside the snake. The swelling in the snake which showed where the other unfortunate was, had prevented the snake from withdrawing by the same way it had entered and so we slew it. These two Black-headed Munias were both cocks and as I could not in wartime get hens for them, I repeatedly let them go, but they tried so hard to get back into their cage that I had, perforce, to open the cage-door. The surviving cock has now a hen. Nevertheless, there appears to me a sinister beauty about a snake as it moves, like flowing water, over the ground. Again, ants will invade the nests of birds and destroy the young, and there is a wall lizard, larger than the familiar wall lizard of the house, which will creep sideways through the wires of a cage even if only half-inch apart, and it is then good-bye to any eggs. Again, the salt winds here so quickly corrode ordinary wire netting that it will soon rust and crumble beneath the fingers. So I decided that even now I would not possess an aviary and that I must be content with cages. I had fine wire gauze fitted in the doors of a converted stable. I had my cages placed on trestle tables and on the floor were the bamboo cages in which I kept my Grey and Black Partridges and from which every day they were released. Now I have a pair of Chukors in a big double bamboo cage and these, too, are released in the garden and return to their cage, tamer than a barndoor fowl. With the War, however, my interest turned to Homer Pigeons which I bred, and though Pigeons are not, I understand, proper subjects for the Avicultural Magazine, for like Canaries and Budgerigars they are domesticated, they are in my view the ideal liberty bird and if we could breed the homing instinct into other birds, then we might see flocks of Turquoisines, Many colours, and Splendids winging their way to their home loft. How far more lovely than a flock of bombers. This is, however, pure phantasy, but so strong is the homing instinct in Homer Pigeons that when, by mistake, the Sergeant 40 SIR GODFREY DAVIS - THE GAGE-DOOR IS OPEN who used to train my birds caught up a young hen but six weeks old and released her with the older and trained birds some seventeen miles away, in hilly country, difficult country for Homer Pigeons, while the trained birds returned the same evening, the young hen returned alone the following day. I believe the Manx Shearwater has the homing instinct very highly developed but one does not keep Manx Shearwater as pets. But where this homing instinct does exist or can be bred, the problem of your liberty bird returning, enemies permitting, is solved. In my view, however, one of the most charming liberty birds is the Grey Francolin or Grey Partridge, as it is called here. This bird is associated with my earliest years in India, and, even now at times, my memory reaches back over the dividing years, and I am a young man again, riding through the fields from village to village, among a friendly and a happy people ; my ideals are still undimmed, my illusions are not yet destroyed, and I still believe that a man is his brother’s keeper ; then the rising sun disperses the morning mists and over the quiet fields comes the clear ringing call of the cock Grey Partridge, a brave and challenging call. But that is far away and long ago. How swiftly the River of Life flows under the Bridge of Time. The Grey Partridge is a favourite pet in. India, particularly among a class known as “ Bhayas ”, of whom many are watchmen and gardeners. The birds are caught when a few days old and reared on white ants and, as I have discovered recently, on the tiny maggots of the house fly, and on bajri, a small greenish seed of the millet family, crushed finely. It is useless trying to tame a half- or a full-grown bird ; it is not only useless, but it is cruel and it is not done in India. These birds are kept in bamboo cages divided into two compartments, one for the cock and one for the hen and the cages, which are small for the size of the bird, each com¬ partment being only about twelve inches square, are not the prisons but the homes of the birds. The cage doors can be opened and the birds readily return on a call from their master. Indeed, in the country districts one can see at times the proud owner walking along a road carrying the double bamboo cage, in which there is one bird, while the other runs along behind, stopping occasionally to dust itself or pick up a morsel of food and then running at speed to join its master. These tame birds often breed and when I go on tour in the cold weather, should I be in Sukkur in Upper Sind in February, I go and see the mali or gardener in the Government garden, to ask how his Partridges are and he will take me into a small, quiet room in his small house of unburnt bricks and there, in the corner of the room, in a wooden box such as you get or used to get at any grocers, upon her nest made on a foundation of leaf mould and dried grass, sitting as quietly as any old hen, will be a hen Grey Partridge. The top of the box is protected by an old piece of stout wire netting, and morning and evening the bird will be taken off her eggs for a stroll in the garden. The cock bird will SIR GODFREY DAVIS - THE GAGE-DOOR IS OPEN 41 help to rear the young and I myself have seen this brave bird drive off a Shikra or Sparrowhawk which tried to seize one of the chicks. The chicks wander under the protection of the parent birds in the garden and about the outhouses, and a pretty sight it is ; and what is more, the mail sells the young at ten rupees a pair. Grey Partridges are, in my opinion, lovely birds, with their soft autumn colouring of browns and greys, and their happy contented murmurings as they feed. They are kept for fighting as well as for their call, but the fighting is not very serious and I remember the grief there was in this same place, Sukkur, when one of the local champions, a lovely bird, was showing itself off to a circle of its human admirers when a Goshawk suddenly swooped down from a tree in the park, where this little exhibition was going on, and carried away that Partridge worth two hundred rupees. Oh ! the sighs and lamentations. I myself have reared the Grey Partridge, the hen sitting in her bamboo cage in a small room on the ground floor of the bungalow, leading into a veranda, leading in its turn into the garden. When the young hatched, after the first few days, under the care of one of my orderlies, the little procession of mother and her young with father bringing up the rear, would make its way to the tomato beds, where under the foliage the birds would find shelter and pro¬ tection and a certain amount of food, and would dust themselves and sun themselves in the soft earth. When the sun got really hot the little procession would re-form and return in the same order under the protection of their devoted attendant to the little room. Black Partridges are not so easy to keep but they are lovely birds. They seem to me more to resemble a Pheasant with their lovely black and silver spangled plumage and the rich brown collar. The hen differs markedly from the cock, being coloured much like a hen Pheasant, and I have found the hens more difficult to keep than the cocks. Perhaps I have not given them sufficient green and insect food ; they are very fond of grasshoppers. The call of the Black Partridge is not so musical as that of the Grey. It is a harsh call, but not without charm as it is repeated, every few minutes in the early morning, as bird answers bird across the wide 44 kachas ” as they are called, the flat lands bordering the Indus watered by the flooding river, which receding, leaves the forested lands, forested with the picturesque lai or tamarisk trees, refreshed and ready for the sowing of crops in the clearings ; or one can, if one is fortunate, as one rides slowly along on a cold fresh winter’s morning, see a cock bird, in all his beauty, calling from an anthill or some hillock. The pious interpret the call as 44 Subhan teri Khudrat ” or 44 Omnipotent, thy Power ”, while the vulgar say the bird is calling 44 Lahsan, piay, adrak ” that is “garlic, onion, ginger”. The English imitation is 44 be quick, pay your debts ”. The birds are kept not for fighting, as the Grey, but for use as decoys in the shooting of wild birds and indeed, it was on this trait of pugnacity I relied in 42 SIR GODFREY DAVIS - THE GAGE-DOOR IS OPEN bringing my Black Partridge cocks home, when the hen died and I was left with two tame cocks. These were reared from tiny chicks and, indeed, were so tame that when the mail carried the one in a cage, the free bird would follow, pecking at the malVs legs. When one was released in the morning, it would soar upwards with that soaring flight so well known to shooting men — I will not call them sportsmen — and then would glide on open wings to earth, when it would strut about looking for fresh worlds to conquer. After two or three hours the bird would return to its cage, placed near the cage of its friend and rival, who would in turn be released. I have only heard of their breeding in captivity once and I did not see the birds myself, but I was told they were kept in a wire-netting enclosure in a garden and that one cock was kept with two or three hens ; for the truth of this I cannot vouch. The Black Partridge is not fed like the Grey on hard seed, but on various kinds of pulse or dal soaked for twenty-four hours and the water then drained off. Chukor are fed in the same way. I had my birds for some years until a too eager childish hand released both birds at once ; then the unaccustomed noise of a children’s party frightened the birds ; they stayed out late and, I think, jackals got them. This trait of pugnacity can be used to bring home liberty birds, and I remember reading, many years ago, a very entertaining letter in the columns of Cage Birds in which the writer, writing of his experiences in China, told how he had followed some Chinese bird fanciers to their meeting place, an open plain, and there they let their larks sing one against the other. The cages were made with movable tops, just as a dish cover fits over a dish ; the birds’ cages were covered with cloth ; one cage would be uncovered and the top lifted off and the bird released. Away he would go singing in the heavens, then, after a proper interval of time, another caged bird would be uncovered ; he would sing against his rival in the sky ; down this one would swoop and over him would be popped the top of the cage and he would be safely “ home There seems nothing improbable in this. Chukor are also kept as pets for fighting and for their call but more often further north than Sind, and I have at present a pair sent to me from Baluchistan ; and I gave another pair to the son of my motor driver, also a Baluchi. Both pairs when sent to me were in poor con¬ dition, their primaries had all been plucked and though they were tame, they could not fly. My pair were put in a large double-domed cage made from bamboo, each compartment measuring 24 in. by 24 in ; the base is 12 in. high, and a further 10 in. to the top of the dome. In this roomy cage I sometimes kept my Black Partridges. The Chukor were released in the mornings separately, until in the course of time they grew their flight feathers and the cock bird now flies to the roof of the house, whence he calls. The pair I gave to the motor driver’s son receive the most constant care, and though each SIR GODFREY DAVIS - THE CAGE-DOOR IS OPEN 43 compartment of their cage is only a foot square, with the usual pyramid¬ shaped top, the birds are given dust and sun baths every day, and when I remarked the other day on their good condition, the boy replied, “ But if one has the love of birds in one’s heart, they thrive.” I thought this was very true. Chukor are fed here the same way as Black Partridges, though they will eat bajri, but not juwar or dari ; they will also eat a paste made of wholemeal flour and water and broken into pellets, which they will take from the hand. This food is also given to young Grey Partridges after they are a few weeks old. It is obvious, I think, that hand-reared birds are better subjects for “ homing ” than others, and I think it probable that the tame Shamas about which one reads in our Magazine, are hand reared. I know most of the Shamas sold in the bird market in Bombay are so reared and I knew of one that was so tame that it was sold more than once to too trusting bird lovers, who charmed by the bird’s tameness, which when released would, at the snap of its master’s fingers, fly upon his outstretched hand, would buy the bird and release it ; when away it flew home to “ master ”. It was, as a matter of custom, sold only to people in the near neighbourhood, but I suspect the owner sold it once too often. The Common or House Myna is easily reared by hand on a paste made of parched gram flour and I think the Starling family ideal subjects for liberty birds. I think the Common Myna a most charming bird, with its rufous and black plumage, its bright yellow bill, ear patches and feet, and its confident strutting gait and its noisy chuckles. One a servant hand-reared was so tame that it would come and perch on one’s shoulder as one moved about the garden, but its very tameness was its undoing and a hawk took it, amidst the lamentations of the compound. Bulbuls, again, when hand-reared make most charming pets and will fly about the house and garden until the spring comes and mating time. But I have now a pair of White-cheeked Bulbuls which were caught as young birds of the year and will not leave me. I think I have in another article told how, when I started to breed Homer Pigeons, I released some of my other birds and how this pair of Bulbuls must have been trapped and caged by a stranger, and how some months after, with plumage all bedraggled and scarcely able to fly, they came back to me and when I put out their cage, they entered it with every sign of happiness and bathed and fed as they had not done for weeks. I have the birds still and only this year the hen must, I think, have laid six clutches ; two nests the pair built in the garden in a casuarina hedge but each time the eggs were taken ; I suspect Crows ; and four times they built in a basket in their cage, a shallow basket about five inches in diameter, filled with coconut fibre which I hollowed out in the centre ; and in this the birds built a nest of the leaves, like pine needles, of the casuarina tree. Once they hatched one 44 SIR GODFREY DAVIS - THE GAGE-DOOR IS OPEN young but I was away and no special food was given and it lived only five days ; then three young were hatched, but something was wrong with the feeding and after thriving for seven days the young faded away. Still the parent birds are with me and when strangers come and the dogs bark, they add their alarm notes to the general uproar. They are quite members of the family and fly from their cage whenever anyone opens the door ; but they always return. I have, I know, written before of one of the most charming pets I have ever had ; a Crested Yellow¬ cheeked Tit, which reared by hand, accompanied me, in its small bamboo cage when I went on circuit and from which he (or was it a she ?) was released as soon as we had settled in the Travellers5 bungalow. This charming bird would always return within a few hours though released at different places as we moved on tour. Not all members of our Society would, I think, be prepared to show the devotion to their birds which others practise. I remember once meeting a most charming gentleman who was so devoted to his birds that he and his family lived in the outhouses and the birds in the bungalow. The bay window of the best room was wired in and occupied by Peafowl. In volume 31 of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society I found the following passage in relation to the Kora or Watercock : " Its fighting qualities have made this bird a great favourite with the natives of Sylhet and Cachar, who keep them as fighting birds and often wager considerable sums on the results of the battles. With the Sylhetis, indeed, these birds often take an even higher rank than do fighting cocks. Wild birds are said not to be so good at fighting as those which are reared by the natives from the eggs, so for this reason the eggs are taken and hatched by the natives. The most usual manner in which this is done is for the man or his wife to carry them about all day fastened to his or her stomach by a cloth. The heat thus engendered seems to be ample for the purpose of incubation and I am informed that at least two out of the three eggs, which escape being smashed, hatch out all right.55 But I have also found in a favourite book of mine, published as long ago as 1895, The Bird , by the French historian, Jules Michelet, a more seemly passage, relating to the domestication of birds. It is as follows : — “ To recreate all the conditions of abode, food, vegetable environ¬ ment, the harmonies of every kind which shall deceive the exile into a forgetfulness of his country is not only a scientific question but a task of ingenious invention. To determine the limit of slavery, of freedom, of alliance and collaboration with ourselves, proper for each individual creature, is one of the gravest subjects which can occupy us. “ A new art is this ; nor shall you succeed in it without a moral gravity, a refinement, a delicacy of appreciation which as yet are V. A. V. CARR - SOME BRITISH BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY 45 scarcely understood, and shall exist, perhaps only when Woman undertakes those scientific studies from which she has hitherto been excluded. “This art supposes a tenderness unlimited in justice and wisdom.” * * * SOME BRITISH BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY By V. A. V. Carr This account of a few different species of birds kept in conditions of semi-liberty will be begun by a few general observations in a form of a summary, and then enlarged upon. This may seem contrary to the general rule — but it will allow me to keep somewhere within the region of true observations gained through personal experience. (a) Birds of intelligence and non-migratory. (By non-migratory I mean in the narrow sense of migratory instincts.) (b) Migratory Birds (broad sense). ( c ) Finches, and finally (d) Domestic birds, i.e. Canaries, Budgerigars, etc. I always associate “ birds of intelligence ” with those that are the wildest and most cunning in their wild state. These birds are generally termed as vermin and there is no doubt their depredations to the agricultural and game preserves are enormous, but their ability of becoming to the human being the same as the “ His Master’s Voice ” dog (after they have been fully and completely reared by hand to maturity from almost nude babies) is little short of amazing. One year, many years ago, we reared by hand over fifty of an assortment of Carrion Crows, Magpies, Jays, Rooks, and Jackdaws and they all had their absolute liberty from the day they left their “ foster ” nests. When feeding time arrived or, as was more often the case, they felt hungry, they would descend in a flock of varying colours on to one’s shoulders opening their beaks and giving their baby’s call. Incidentally, I doubt if they ever lose this baby touch — or perhaps it may be the female element that sticks to it (with apologies to our Editor). No matter to what age they live, and they are really of the right nature for hand rearing, they never do. This is a point worthy of physiological study as some individuals of all species of British birds (from the same nests even) are as different in character as all other living things on God’s earth. This little flock of birds gradually diminished after they had learnt to hunt food for themselves — but those that chose to stay around and to ask for their food always had it. The others sat up in the trees calling occasionally, but well and cunning enough to keep out of reach. 46 V. A. V. CARR - SOME BRITISH BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY The causes of the diminution of birds that have been trained to domestic life are many — the chief being open water butts, half or three parts full ; which they never seem to be able to resist. Another evil is the sportsman with a gun, and thirdly “ friendly 5 5 neighbours with a desire to keep a pet in a cage. As an experiment this mass rearing of such species of birds to keep at complete liberty proved the hopelessness of dealing with such a wide range of varying characters, as they did not individually receive the affection that a few inevitably do. So then it got to the stage of a pair of Carrion Crows to be reared and trained, and they make the most amusing pets one could wish for. They delight in swooping down from a height and pecking the tail of some yapping terrier and hovering for another sneak attack. Rooks are more thoughtful and like to walk about in slow, long strides and thoughtfully probing with their long beaks into the mystic depths of a lawn S Jays think it good fun to hover in the woodland, seemingly enjoying the mobbing birds but secretly scared to death. Then they will make a sudden swoop at one’s cigarette and fly away with the right end in the right place. Magpies are more vicious and like a good peck at a stockingless leg or a lunge at one’s ear or fingers, hiding bits of food in their long throats, then regurgitating and placing it under a stone. Jackdaws have the most loving nature but delight in daylight robberies. Ravens are extremely handsome birds to have “ waddling ” about. I have seen them in remote Welsh farms reared by some member of the farmer’s family, and as long as they are treated gently and not frightened (this, by the way, applies to all birds) they will be like the poor (in the old days), always with us. (b) Migratory Birds. — Such birds as Nightingales, Tree Pipits, and Blackcaps will not go far away when at liberty, but the huge drawback to these birds is their migratory instincts. They must be off no matter what happens and one cannot possibly allow them their liberty for very long. (c) Finches are difficult to hand-rear to such a late age as compared to soft-bills and the keeping of birds at semi-liberty without the hand¬ rearing stage cannot be very satisfactory. We have had aviary doors blow open under severe gale conditions allowing all the inmates to escape, but a large proportion have returned to their same quarters. This may be due to feeding habits, not necessarily homing instincts. (d) Canaries are the least intelligent of all birds in the open, and hopeless in any idea of direction or self-preservation. One Budgerigar which my sister laboriously reared by hand was exceptionally intelligent. He was at full liberty and never attempted to go out of the district. He made marvellous flights, flying very high and swift. This bird was kept at semi-liberty for two years, and when GUY FALKNER - GOOD BIRDS AT LIBERTY 47 he was out in a terrific gale he completely disappeared and was never heard or seen again (unfortunately). The Barbary Dove is very handsome and when crossed with the Wild Turtle Dove the resulting hybrid is pretty, fertile, and more intelligent, but these birds have no knowledge of the warning notes of other birds and always finish their liberty in the claws of the agile Sparrowhawk. I think hawks specialize in Doves for food in this locality. To sum up, then, may I make these observations. If anyone interested in the advancement of the science of ornithology wants to gain more knowledge of the workings of a bird’s brain, he should hand- rear and tend these birds in the same way as a man and his dog. How often one hears the remark that Mr. X has a Magpie which is always sitting on his shoulder he must be a crank, whereas in actual fact the knowledge that owner gains from such a pet is incalculable. * * * GOOD BIRDS AT LIBERTY By Guy Falkner I have written before articles on some of my birds at liberty or semi- liberty so will not do so again for fear of boring readers of our Magazine. I, however, enclose a list of birds I have had at liberty at one time or another, not for weeks or months, but for years ; now, alas ! all dead except for a Starling. All the birds were cocks and, as long as one was about the house and garden and they could hear one’s footsteps or voice, they would never stray far. I may add this was entirely affection for me as I rarely fed them myself, only doing the aviary birds — my man doing “ the house birds ”, i.e. those that had cages in the house and were allowed full liberty in the day time. I find hens unsatisfactory as they always look for mates in the spring. Cock birds, on the other hand, “ mate ” to those humans they have been hand- reared by or to whom they have taken an extreme liking — this I have found the general rule. The following list of birds I have kept at liberty are : Short-eared Owl, Jackdaw, Wood Pigeon, Goldfinch, Rose-breasted Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Leadbeater’s Cockatoo, Swainsons Lorikeet, Curassow (the red-billed var.), Guan, Chough (Cornish), Glossy Starling, Japanese Starling, Common Starling, Formosan Magpie, Japanese Magpie (this not a very satis¬ factory bird, rather inclined to stray like most of the Magpies and Jays — the Rooks, Crows, etc., are good stayers), Toucan, Raven, Common Hangnest, Song Thrush. All the above birds were “ foolproof” tame and most of them, as I said before, lived for years. I found their greatest enemies were fools with guns, waterbutts and other people’s dogs. 48 A. H. ISENBERG AND T. F. M. WILLIAMSON— SPECTACLED JAY-THRUSH THE SPECTACLED JAY-THRUSH AT LIBERTY IN CALIFORNIA ( Trochalopterum canorum) By A. H. Isenberg and T. F. M. Williamson Early in the century a fire of considerable extent broke out in the Chinese quarter of the City of Honolulu, in consequence of which many of these Thrushes, Hwa-mei or “ flower-eye ”, as the Chinese call them, gained their liberty, whether by intention or not on the part of their owners no one knows. At any rate by 1916 the valleys on the Island of Oahu on which Honolulu is situated, resounded with their song. Mr. Isenberg, who spent a great part of his youth in the Hawaiian Islands, observed their accidental naturalization with much interest, and later on introduced them successfully on the Island of Kauai, where they are now quite common. Later when he acquired his present home at Woodside, California, these early successes prompted him to see if he could not repeat them here, and a visit of M. Jean Delacour about two months ago has resulted in this article, in the hope that it may be of interest to at least some of the members. In the latter part of 1941 ten of these birds were purchased with the idea of liberating them the following spring. Unfortunately about a week after they were turned into one of the aviaries fighting broke out among them, with the result that four of them were so badly injured that they succumbed and a fifth was so crippled that it was useless to liberate him. As no other aviary was available into which to turn them, and to avoid further loss, the door was opened and they were allowed to go. At the same time an old male, a very fine songster, who had been at Woodside for a number of years and who was ringed, was let out. The house and flower garden are surrounded on the north and south by streams, that on the south always having water in it, and its banks, which form a gully, are thickly covered with brush and trees such as live oak, Monterey pine, alder, willow, butterfly-bush, and cottonwood. It extends for some miles both to the east and west, and the birds took up their residence on its banks at once. They were fed all through the winter in the aviary from which they were liberated, but as spring came round that gradually ceased and any feeding that was done was of a more casual nature. In a very short time they learned to come to our whistle. They are not really shy but thread their way so rapidly through the densest brush, flitting and hopping that it is often difficult to follow them and they are all round one before one realizes it. Their song can only be described as wonderful, especially in the early morning and evening, and so preoccupied are they with it that they are more easily approached then than at any other time. They always A. H. ISENBERG AND T. F. M. WILLIAMSON - SPECTACLED JAY-THRUSH 49 choose a tree from which to sing their full song, though a sweet whisper¬ ing sort of song can often be heard from the brush. The old male above- mentioned always answers our whistle with a few sweet notes, and is always on the look out for peanuts or mealworms though, except in the breeding season he prefers the former. There are many aviaries at Woodside which contain a large variety of soft-billed birds, and one or two Spectacled Thrushes are always kept so that the ones at liberty may not stray away. They seem to sing nearly the whole of the year round except during the moult and nesting period which lasts here from April to the end of July, though even in these critical periods bursts of somewhat subdued song may be heard. The opinion of the writers is that the song of these birds, though, of course, individuals vary, is fuller and sweeter than any other that they have heard, but, of course, they are only giving their personal views and everyone may not agree. As regards breeding : in the spring and summer of 1941 eight young from one pair were observed. Later in the year only three birds were seen always together. In all probability the young were driven off by the parents or vermin may have got them. Unfortunately the woods round Woodside are pretty well stocked with vermin of all sorts, racoons, skunks, foxes, Eagle Owls, and hawks, not to mention that villain the common rat and many nests are robbed. Shooting and trapping do little good as so soon as one offender is caught another appears to take his place. We had almost forgotten to mention the grey squirrel, whom one of us saw capture one of the Thrushes and maul it so severely before it could be driven off that the bird soon died. In 1 942 we only saw four young, but could hear birds singing far up the stream. In 1943 five young were seen and in 1945 we counted ten birds together and flying one after another across the stream. This year we know of five young being reared from the first nest and at last birds are heard singing all round and at a considerable distance away. So it would appear that we do not see all the birds hatched, though we hear many of them and we think that a conservative estimate of the Spectacled Thrushes at liberty would be from sixteen to twenty. However that may be, there is no doubt in our minds that they are well established. The nests we have found vary as to site. One was in the centre of a scrub oak thicket, another in an ivy-covered oak some twenty feet from the ground. These were all composed of leaves, roots, and hair and were pretty bulky affairs. Three to five blue eggs appear to be the average clutch and incubation lasts about fourteen days. The male bird appears to do most of the foraging for the family. The old male will come begging for mealworms and we have seen him pick up fifteen at a time, fly off a short distance put them down and repack them before taking them to the nest. He carefully killed each one. On throwing 50 D. H. S. RISDON - MY EXPERIENCE OF LIBERTY BIRDS him more worms than he could carry away at once he would first kill them all, carry off what he could, and return for the rest. He also carried pound cake to the young. The female came not nearly so often as the male and would be content with four or five worms. The young will also take worms and cake when they leave the nest, but they are shy, won’t leave the brush, and things have to be thrown to them. They are fed by their parents for a considerable time after they leave the nest. Their beaks are noticably shorter than those of the adults, their tails quite short and their breasts speckled. Females are indistinguishable from males except by their call note, a descending whistle, repeated several times. In conclusion, we do not think that Spectacled Thrushes at liberty are harmful to other birds. We have seen them on the feeding tray eating in perfect harmony with such small birds as Song Sparrows, Chickadees, Titmice, Wren Tits, and the like, though whether they rob nests or not we do not know. Be that as it may, we are glad that we have succeeded in establishing them if only to be cheered in dark days and fine by that wonderful song. * * * MY EXPERIENCE OF LIBERTY BIRDS By D. H. S. Risdon My experiences of birds at semi-liberty are very limited. Most of them have been too precious to allow them to brave the many hazards of the English countryside. If they are really tame, this means that they have lost one of their most valuable assets in a free state— -fear of man- — and they almost invariably sooner or later come to grief by human hands, either by capture or some “ sportsman’s 55 gun. If they are not tame, except in the case of certain large species whose aerial manoeuvres may be worth watching, they are disappointing at liberty, as one can seldom approach them closer than one would the average wild bird. Moreover if they are at all striking in appearance they run the same risk as the tame bird of being trapped or shot. Assuming that one keeps birds for the pleasure of watching and admiring them at close quarters, to let them loose seems to me rather to defeat the object of bird-keeping. There is, however, one exception to this argument, and that is the letting out of breeding pairs of insectivorous species which have young to feed. According to the interesting accounts which appear from time to time from those who successfully breed softbills, the easiest way to ensure a continuous supply of live insect food, without which they fail D. H. S. RISDON - MY EXPERIENCE OF LIBERTY BIRDS 51 to rear their young, is to let the parents out to collect their own. Moreover, this method would appear, from all accounts, to keep the cock sufficiently occupied outside the aviary not to turn out his off¬ spring from the nest prematurely in his eagerness to make his mate go to nest again. In spite of the foregoing remarks, however, I have kept a few tame birds at semi-liberty and while they lived they were a source of pleasure. To my mind, a bird to be really enjoyed in a free state should be hand tame. A lot of fun may then be had with such specimens, especially if they are of the larger species and make a good show on the wing. Such a bird or birds can be easily controlled and shut up safely, out of harm’s way, when danger threatens or nobody is about to keep an eye on them. Even then they sooner or later seem to meet a “ sticky end ” as the following stories of my few liberty birds will show. “ Jock ” was a Jackdaw, taken from a nest in the hollow limb of an elm tree in Esher. When he first arrived at my home in Northwood he was a fat mass of newly sprouted black feathers, with pale blue eyes, a large yellow-edged gape, and an equally large voice. He was still a bit unsteady on his legs, so was placed in a small straw-lined basket, where he stayed for some days before showing any inclination to move about on his own. Having hand-reared various small birds at different times in the past, I found this big one just too easy. He would swallow anything, includ¬ ing one’s finger or the handle of a dessert spoon which was used to shovel food down his red gullet. He required feeding every two hours from dawn to sunset, and, as I was at that time away from home during the day, rather than burden some other member of the family with the job of feeding him, I decided to take him to and from London with me. His basket was wrapped up to look like an ordinary parcel in order to attract as little attention as possible, but therein I was not always successful. He soon learned that the sound of the human voice probably meant food, and should anyone with whom I might be travelling happen to speak, he was often answered with a series of squawks which froze everyone in the railway carriage into an embarrassed silence. It was not always realized that the noise came from the brown paper parcel on the luggage rack, and many were the curious and covert glances cast in my general direction ! When he had fledged he soon learned to feed himself and could be left at home, but he still liked to be fed by hand for quite a time after¬ wards. It was during this period that he was trained to fly at liberty and return when called. At first his short flights were within the garden boundaries, but soon were extended all over the district. 52 D. H. S. RISDON - MY EXPERIENCE OF LIBERTY BIRDS Although he would always return at the sound of my voice if within earshot, he was very apt to treat all human beings as providers of food, and more than one timid citizen received rather a shock when a Jackdaw appeared from nowhere, alighted on his shoulder and squawked into his ear with a large open beak. When he was about three months old he showed a tendency to stray further and further from home. I suppose it was the instinct which seems to urge the young of many species to leave the breeding territory and seek pastures new. First he would spend a night away and turn up the following morning, and then on one occasion he didn’t turn up again. Exhaustive inquiries eventually traced him to a house where he was the centre of an admiring family in the kitchen. Although obviously enjoying such an appreciative audience he recognized me at once and let me bring him home. He was the only bird I have ever known which could be taken for walks. Sometimes on one’s shoulder, sometimes flying ahead from tree to tree, and sometimes dogging one’s footsteps with his jaunty swagger he made an amusing companion. At about this time he learnt to say his own name, and could repeat the phrase “ Come on ” which I invariably used when calling him. It was amusing to hear him, perched somewhere on his own, practising and repeating to himself over and over again “ Jock ! Jock ! Come on ! ” One day he disappeared, as I thought for good and all, and this time inquiries failed to reveal his whereabouts. I thought that he must have reverted to a wild life and began to forget about him. Three months later I was walking down the garden when I noticed a Jackdaw which flew on to a branch ahead of me. It seemed unusually tame and appeared to be eyeing me uncertainly. Suddenly I realized who it was and called him by name, whereupon he flew immediately to my shoulder with his old squawk of welcome. He had obviously been a prisoner somewhere, as his condition was not so good and he could not fly as well as when I had seen him last. I was surprised at his remembering me after so long. He was about four months old when I lost him and barely through his first moult, and three months’ absence is a long time in the life of a young bird still developing. After this he was kept in an aviary along with a Magpie, a Jay, and several foreign Pies and Jays of his own size. He was evidently one of those birds whose constant association with human beings had made him believe he was “ one of them ”. His aviary companions were ignored and, when he was at liberty, as he always was when I was around to keep an eye on him, he took no notice whatever of the wild Jackdaws. The only bird he did love to D. H. S. RISDON - MY EXPERIENCE OF LIBERTY BIRDS 53 tease was Polly, my African Grey Parrot. Her red tail was the attraction. She was fond of pottering about the veranda in her own quiet way, and while doing so, like all “ old maid 55 Parrots, was imbued with the idea of founding a family. This took the form of poking her head into odd corners, tail in the air, and then scratching the ground first with one foot and then the other, as if scraping out a hollow in some imaginary nest. Here was Jock’s chance and, swooping down, he would give her tail a most unmerciful tweak. Round would swing Polly, every feather .bristling with outraged indignation, but by that time the Jackdaw would be half-way across the garden. He was really a coward and would never face up to her. If only she could have been about ten times as quick “ on the draw ” she might have taught him a lesson. As it was she would go back to resume her “ nesting ” with a sinister rendering of a human chuckle such as only a Grey Parrot can do. The following year, when Jock became adult, it was fairly evident that he was a cock ; but did he take an interest in the opposite sex of his own species ? Not a bit of it ! Any woman or child was entertained to a display which should by rights have been reserved only for a hen Jackdaw, as with ruffled feathers, dropped wings, and spread tail he ran round and round them with little mincing steps, quite unlike his normal swaggering stride. Children he loved, largely I think because of their excited squeals and giggles as he flew from head to head or dashed in among their scurrying feet as they ran home from school. He lived with me for two and a half years and then the inevitable tragedy overtook him. Although a garden pet, he liked entering people’s houses, and this, I think, was the indirect cause of his untimely end. Whether he had been up to some mischief and incurred the wrath of a householder, or whether some wretched boy with an airgun did the deed will never be known, but one day he came home and flew as usual to the aviary to be let in. I thought his flight seemed a bit lopsided and he seemed obviously in distress as he hopped through the opened doorway without noticing me as he generally did. Then I saw the wound in his breast and a wet stain on the black feathers. Examination showed a shot wound and the pellet was evidently buried inside him. Extraction was obviously impossible so there was nothing to do but wait and see what happened, in the hope that perhaps the pellet was not lodged in a vital part. This, however, proved to be the case, and he died the next day. Another bird which I had at liberty for a few weeks, until it reverted to the wild, was a Greenfinch. This was picked up with another one below some chestnut trees. Some disaster had evidently overtaken the nest, as the two fledgelings were only partly feathered and quite unable to fly. 5 54 D. H. S. RISDON - MY EXPERIENCE OF LIBERTY BIRDS As I had a brood of Canaries of the same age at the time, I took the two young Greenfinches home, intending to see whether the Canaries would rear them along with their own young. Shortly after this one of the Greenfinches vomited blood and then died. The fall from the nest had evidently been too much for it. The Canaries did not seem very keen on the remaining one so I decided to hand-rear it. As soon as it fledged I put it in a cage which was daily carried into the garden and the door left open, so that it could come and go as it pleased. While still being hand-fed it would come at once to one’s call. One never quite knew where it would be in the garden, as its colouring was a perfect camouflage against foliage, but as soon as it heard the tap of the feeding stick against the food bowl, with an answering chirp, down it would come to be fed. Even when it became independent it remained quite tame for a while, would come at one’s call, and would return each evening to its cage to be taken indoors. Gradually, however, it seemed to become more aloof and stayed away for longer and longer intervals. Then one morning it flew off as usual on being released and never came back. I think that if one wishes to make permanent liberty birds of hand- reared specimens, it is necessary to curtail their freedom during their first late summer and autumn. It is during this time that most young birds tend to leave the district in which they were bred and form themselves into large flocks which roam the countryside with no fixed abode. Your tame young bird will feel the urge to join his wild brethren and will be off unless you prevent him doing so. My only other liberty bird was a Barbary Dove, which used to roam the district where I lived and come back to its cage in the garden to be fed. It frequented a neighbour’s poultry run a good deal in company with some wild Turtle Doves, to which it used to display, but they would have none of it and would fly off. I think it would have followed them, but their going was so swift that the Barbary never quite realized the fact that they had gone until it was too late ! It used to cover quite a lot of ground in its wanderings ; as I realized one day when I heard it cooing in a pine tree, quite a mile from home. Although Barbary Doves look such half-doped things in a cage, they are remarkably active when they are allowed the room, and their flight at liberty is swift and sure. I think this bird eventually got caught or else killed by a cat or an owl. It did not always roost in its cage and on one occasion, after a night out, it turned up the next day literally scalped. It recovered completely from this attack, new skin and feathers entirely covering the wound, but some months later it again roosted out somewhere, and this time it never came back. Thus ends my tale of liberty birds, but who knows what the future CLARE I. C APRON — BLACK-HEADED GULL AND OTHER BIRDS 55 holds ? I think, if my dreams came true, I would have an island in some warm, sunny clime, devoid of men with guns, cats, rats, stoats, and weasels whereon one could keep at liberty all one’s avian treasures with some chance of success. * * * A BLACK-HEADED GULL AND OTHER BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY By Clare I. Capron There is no doubt that, of all wild creatures, birds make the most delightful pets ; however, in my opinion, to afford real pleasure to the owner there needs to be a voluntary attachment on the part of the creature, which holds it far more satisfactorily than bars and patent fastenings do. This applies especially to birds, since free flight is one of their main charms to us, and one of the main sources of enjoyment to themselves. Mankind when fettered, can still enjoy the pleasures of mind and study, the varieties of literature, arts and handcrafts ; but to the lesser creation provision of food and shelter alone is a very poor compensation for the loss of movement and society of their kind. To tame an adult bird, such as Robin, Finch, or Blackbird, by gradual patience in garden contacts, gives perhaps the most pleasing results ; but it sometimes happens that a fledgeling of some sort becomes orphaned, and is then well worth rearing for a pet. The following are some examples of my own experiences in this way. One red-letter day a friend took me for a duck-punt outing on one of the Norfolk Broads nature reserves. It was May ; a frozen dawn developed into a day of unstinted sunshine, and the breeze had a true East Anglian bite in it. A prevailing chorus from waders and warblers was occasionally punctuated by the dim boom of a Bittern. In the course of our watery tour, the keeper turned us aside to put out of action a newly established unwanted colony of Black-headed Gulls . . . unwanted because of their rapacious treatment of rarer sorts of fellow nesters in the area. Heaped up cradles of sedge, containing two or three handsomely mottled greeny brown eggs apiece, one after another the clutches were smashed with the end of the punt pole. In just one nest out of the two dozen or so, sat demurely a newly hatched first-born, like a little chicken with duckling’s feet, and black spots all over his soft grey down. Of course we begged for the life of this Moses ... it was readily granted. I took him home with me to Derbyshire the next day, hoping to rear him on a judicious menu of raw liver and meat, brown bread sop, as many fresh ants’ eggs as could be obtained, and chopped lettuce and fescue heads to provide needful vitamins. 56 GLARE I. CAPRON - BLACK-HEADED GULL AND OTHER BIRDS On these he throve, and at the age of three days began to “ follow the plough 5 5 when I was gardening, and pick up grubs and small worms on his own account. He also horrified me by picking up and swallowing large bits of the concrete path, until I realized that these were to be the false teeth for his gizzard. Periodically he would discard some well- worn gravel and proceed to pick up a new outfit. At a week old he could tackle an apple core and bring up a neat casting of its remains. An outsize saucer on the lawn enabled him to indulge in six thorough baths a day ; and it was also a pretty sight to see the little fellow swimming buoyantly about on the surface of my own cold morning bath in the house. This he enjoyed, but appeared to be quite nervous of the vaster waters of our garden swimming pool, even at a much more advanced age. I sometimes wondered what his reaction to the sea itself would be hereafter. Growing rapidly, feathers of a dark and still protective coloration began to supersede the spotted down. At about seven weeks the long wing feathers were fully developed, and Moses took to the air. It was a joy to see him wheeling and circling over the garden. On the ground he was gentle and sedate, not apt to be frolicsome like many young creatures are. He much liked to be talked to and petted ; and when my sister’s children came to stay with us a spirit of jealousy was plainly manifest, and that in due proportion to their ages, the smallest one being attacked the most fiercely by him. This led to his partial in¬ carceration in the fruit cage. Whether it was owing to the double vexation, or whether to a natural seasonal tendency to shift away from the old breeding-ground, I cannot tell, but he began to take far longer flights, and joining up with a young Gull bred on the neighbouring moors finally returned no more. We consoled ourselves by thinking of his enjoyment of the fuller life which had claimed him. In spring the Magpies of the Peakland valleys were troublesome in levying raids on our garden nests, particularly on the Thrushes. So once I returned the attention on them, and removed a queer little object from one of their thorny robber strongholds on the opposite hill-side. Dalgetty was somewhat like a black-and-white kitten, very short bodied, no tail, and mounted on extra long shiny black legs, on which he would prance along uncertainly on slippery stretches of linoleum. About that time a high wind blew a fledgeling Rook out of his beech-top nursery, and so we brought up the pair of them together, mainly on liver, and on worms, slugs, and lurking creepy-crawlies for which we left no stone unturned. The gale that blew Barnaby down, appeared to have also given him a bad cold in the larynx. For some weeks, though developing well otherwise, he suffered from total loss of voice, and could only caw in a discreet whisper. When in course of time his caw returned in full force, we were rather sorry in some ways. CLARE I. CAPRON - BLACK-HEADED GULL AND OTHER BIRDS 57 It was an ear-splitting ordeal to have him give tongue from his favourite perch on our shoulders. Dalgetty grew a long tail, shot with iridescent green and purple. They were good companions, but an amusing contrast in character. Offer both a strawberry simultaneously, when they had swooped down out of the blue to be fed. The Magpie would snap up his own and Barnaby’s as well, while the latter was still thinking how much he was going to enjoy it. Owing to their taste for flying away with the day’s newspaper, or casually depositing such items as ankle socks and gloves on the roof of the house, they were relegated at times to an empty stable. Although entirely tame and friendly, with autumn came to them the same urge that Moses had, to join their own kith, and after an occasional return, thenceforward they were no longer mine. The only bird pet who ever did come back faithfully year after year, was a Woodpigeon, reared from the nest, and named Boreas from the June snowstorm that whitened his native moorland fir-copse. Every spring he and a wild mate would raise a brood or so of wild children in our plantation. They all shunned publicity, but he himself would strut placidly around, feeding with the tame Fantails. Only on one occasion did he enter our house. That was seeking dumbly for relief after having been shot in the thigh. This fortunately enabled me to catch and take him to the doctor, who, after we had plucked away the feathers, set the shattered drumstick with small splints and strips of plaster, poor Boreas gripping me tightly round the finger during these painful proceedings. After keeping him in a chicken run for some weeks, the splints were removed, and he resumed his free life, sound in wind and limb, though with a slight limp discernible whenever he hurried his portly walk. The next spring and summer he was with us as usual, but the year following, which would have been the fifth or sixth, he never reappeared. No doubt those last winter wanderings had been met with a charge of shot that was fatal. Another year a young Kestrel was passed on to me, his boy owner, who had reared him, being able to keep him no longer. Kester was a most friendly creature from the first. Conversing in sharp, squeaky tones, he loved to sit on my shoulder and tweak my hair ; and when fed would either try to fly away still clasping the finger he had been perched on, or else take his food up on to my head to enjoy picking it to pieces there ... a habit which had to be firmly vetoed ! Liver (so easily obtainable in pre-war days) and raw chicken necks were his main diet, supplemented by trapped mice and small bird and vole casualties picked up along motor roads. Although perfectly tame, when given full freedom in the “ back-end ”, he took it gratefully, evidently con¬ sidering a hunt for his own living much preferable to a sheltered and spoon-fed existence. So did the two Tawny Owls, Puffball and Mopsa, which I had the 58 GLARE I. CAPRON - BLACK-HEADED GULL AND OTHER BIRDS next year, after their tree nursery had been untimely rent asunder by a gale. Perhaps it was owing to having each other for company, and by reason, too, of their nocturnal habits, but they were never confiding like Kester was. Flying down to receive food from the hand was as far as they ever got, and woe betide that hand if unprotected by a leather glove, for blood-piercing was the grip of their talons, though they only snapped and nibbled most gently with their hooked beaks. Owls kill with their claws in one fierce snatch, and then swallow the prey whole (which much simplifies meals on dark nights). Falcons carry off their prize to a convenient spot, hold it down by foot, and then tear it into shreds with the sharp beak which has already done the killing. It was interesting being able to contrast the ways of the two species. Both had in common remarkably silent flight, owing to the down on their flight feathers which acted as the muffling on pirate’s oars. . . . The descend¬ ants of Puffball and Mopsa still inhabit the fir plantations to which they escaped as soon as the stable door was left open. A minor road casualty with an injured leg joint, when barely emerged from the nest, a young Greenfinch next claimed foster- parental care. Making himself at home at once in a flannelled box, he got the name of “ Pip ” from his continual Great Expectations. Even after bedtime, his transparent little crop bulging with the last meal of bread-and-caterpillar, up would come a sleepy head with a very wide crimson gape, hoping for more. Cabbage caterpillars are apt to have a harmful effect on some sorts of young birds. I got Pip’s from the hazel hedges, folded in neatly doubled leaves, that we called his love-letters. Greenfinches, as families, remain very united for some weeks after the nest is left ; you see the parents being closely pursued, with little husky cries of “ parri, parri ”. Whenever I took Pip in the garden he was never happy unless following or perching on me. But by August came the larger flock instinct. One day he was missing. After coming back on the next one, as if to let me know that he was well and happy, he was off again, and permanently, to the wild and the fallow-field life. Commonest and plainest of all birds, yet a Sparrow raised from the nest or from a gutter-pipe fall makes a more amusing companion than many of the rarer sorts. Character and decision they have in plenty. When Charles, who would come flying in at the open window on sound of the breakfast bell, was presented with a thick slice of bread and marmalade or jam tart, being unable to compass the whole (as he saw us doing) with his little beak, he would take alternate pecks of bread and sips of butter or jam. With a sultana he used his beak side¬ ways and scissor-wise to cut through its skin. He would then descend from my wrist and go systematically round the table picking up crumbs, a useful domestic aid. James was even tamer, and he loved to nestle long in a willing hand, JOHN YEALLAND - SOME BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY 59 or in the little caves left among bed-clothes at rising time. Once he made an upward rush to nestle in a friend’s hearty yawn ! Alas, his very tameness was his undoing, squatting on a dark mat, where a heed¬ less foot brought sudden disaster. In spite of their saucy independence and hardihood, Sparrows are certainly capable of a most real and touching affection to their owners. Of course there is always much more individuality and variety of character among birds of the same species than one is apt to realize without close and sympathetic personal contact. That is what makes taming them so interesting, and it also makes one averse to cramp their short lives by bars, pinionings, or anything but a merely transient fetter. As I work on the land I often fill in times of monotony with revisualizing old days and friends, and among them see again the engaging ways of the smaller feathered ones, some of whose careers I have thus briefly outlined. * * * SOME BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY By John Yealland Most of the observations made in this article upon the subject of birds kept at semi-liberty at Warblington, near Havant, at Peasmarsh, near Rye, and at Hayward’s Heath must already have appeared in accounts by the Marquis of Tavistock in the volumes of the Avicultural Magazine between the years 1924 and 1939. Not everyone, however, will have ready access to these volumes, and so it may be worth while to recount the experiments made with a number of species of foreign birds as they occur to an imperfect memory, for I have not all the volumes and those I have are away being bound. The experiments took three main forms ; there were the birds which were allowed out by day only (because of the danger of their being taken at night by Owls, or, in the case of the Finches in winter, to be sure of their roosting in a warm shelter) and were not fed outside ; those which were allowed out all the time were fed in two types of trap cage, and could fairly readily be caught up, and those which were liberated through a trap door in the aviary roof, and were trained to come back into the aviary shelter to feed or to roost as they pleased. These last were under the least control because they could not be so easily caught. During winter a number of cock Parrakeets were liberated mainly with the object of maintaining or improving their fertility. Their hens were kept in the outdoor aviaries and altogether the arrangement worked very successfully, but whether these birds would have stayed so well had they been let out in pairs one cannot, of course, tell. The birds so treated were King Parrakeets, Crimson¬ winged, Black-tailed, Barraband’s, Pennant’s, Brown’s, Yellow-bellied, and Indian Ring-necked. The Black-tailed, Barraband’s, and Crimson- 6o JOHN YEALLAND - SOME BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY winged, including the young cocks of the year, were let out every morning, and at mid-day an inward pointing funnel of wire-netting was put into position in the small feeding door at the front of the aviary flight through which the birds had gone out, so that when they came back to feed they could not find their way out again. For some time before being let out for the first time the birds, which were normally fed inside the shelter, were fed just inside the small feeding door in the flight, and that was all the training that was either practicable or necessary. Only one, a bright youth among the Crimson¬ winged, ever found its way out through the funnel. They, together with one or two hybrid Crimson-winged X Sula Island Kings, were all housed in one aviary which had a much larger shelter than the ordinary ones. The small door was, of course, closed at night to prevent the entry of rats. One winter morning after the birds had been let out there came a blizzard and some of the Barraband’s were lost, one or two being seen later in the Isle of Wight, but none was recovered alive. The Black¬ tailed were the most spectacular flyers and it was a wonderful sight to see them dashing at great speed through the leafless trees. Altogether this plan worked admirably, and provided the birds did not find any food outside all were safely inside the aviary by mid¬ afternoon. In the Spring the adult birds were returned to their mates and only the young ones were allowed their day liberty. Cock Kings, the Broad-tails and Ring-necked were trained to feed in a large feeding-box, something like 4 ft. by 2 ft. by 2 ft., having at one end a small entrance hole and at the other a basin of seed which was replenished by means of a small door at the back. The bottom was covered with half-inch mesh wire-netting and it was fairly dark inside, while a hinged wooden screen prevented any bird from seeing the basin of food from the entrance, so it was only the birds which had been trained to feed in such a box that ever thought of going inside, though, if I remember rightly, one or two of the young Crimson-winged did find the way in, and it sometimes happened that Sparrows went in to feed, but these latter were caught, before they brought too many friends, by the fixing of a sliding door, operated by string, which closed the entrance. The box stood on the top of an aviary : it was fitted with four legs (set at an angle to give a firm base) each having a square of zinc fitted at the top to prevent the ascent of rats. The box was stayed with wire to adjacent aviaries to prevent its being overturned by strong winds. The training of the birds was done by means of a box similar in appearance to the one outside, but having to start with the whole front open so that the basin of food was plainly visible. Then day by day a board was added until only the entrance hole remained as a JOHN YEALLAND SOME BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY 6 I means of entry, and then the hinged screen was arranged so that the basin was no longer visible from the perch at the entrance. The training took something like ten or twelve days to complete, and with some birds it was necessary to proceed very cautiously towards the end of the training, the screen proving a very baffling factor even to birds which would enter readily enough so long as the basin could be seen from the entrance. The box had, of course, an arrangement of perches inside whereby birds could walk from the entrance to the basin. The whole arrangement was not so involved as the description might make it appear and altogether it worked very well indeed. Red-rumped Parrakeets were kept at liberty and they stayed and bred well and for some reason were not troubled by the Owls. Masked Lovebirds did well, if I remember rightly, but did not breed. Red¬ faced Lovebirds also stayed well but did not breed. The smaller birds were fed in a trap cage, a semi-circular topped affair about 3 ft. by i ft. 6 in. hinged to a base and having an inner lining of string¬ netting spaced off from the wire-netting so as to prevent the birds, whenever they were caught, from injuring themselves. Inside was a tray of seed mixture and it was necessary to change this seed fairly often, particularly in wet weather because, of course, it was quite exposed to the weather and soon sprouted or turned sour after being made wet. In winter the mixture contained no Canary seed or millet because of the various Finches, which were trained to go into a warmed shelter at night. The trap was enclosed by a hinged frame covered with i J in. wire-netting which kept out the larger Parrakeets, and it stood on a stand about six feet from the ground, the legs each being fitted with a square of zinc to prevent rats from climbing up, The trap which, of course, operated freely inside the cover, was propped up by a piece of wood, about three or four inches long, so that the drop was quickly accomplished and there was little risk of a bird being crushed. Joined to the prop was a length of fishing-line (which withstood the weather far better than ordinary string would have done), which was carried to a hide some thirty or forty yards distant. The line, unless carefully arranged, gave some trouble because it was, of course, important to keep it fairly taut so as not to have to pull up any slack line before throwing the trap, for naturally the birds were alarmed by any movement of the line. At intervals of about ten yards it was necessary to have props to take the weight of the line and a compensating weight fixed at the hide end which allowed for slackening in dry weather and tightening in wet, so the line was always just taut enough, yet there was never (unless something went wrong) enough tension on it to pull away the support¬ ing prop and throw the trap. Tits and Nuthatches took a good deal of the seed, but when the Tits 62 JOHN YE ALL AND - SOME BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY became too troublesome we caught some and liberated them a mile or two off, but I think many of them eventually came back, while the Sparrows were used as food for Owls in the collection. A similar trap feeding-cage was used in summer for the various Finches, the outer cover being of i in. mesh wire-netting which excluded most of the wild birds. It was rarely necessary to catch any of the foreign birds and, of course, Sparrows were only caught when no foreign birds were inside feeding with them. Green Budgerigars stayed well at Warblington and bred, the young being caught up when they were independent of the parents. A few Yellow and Blue ones did not long survive. Blue-Crowned and Vernal Hanging Parrakeets were kept successfully at liberty all one summer, but they stayed in the tree tops and were only to be seen when feeding or flying swiftly from one tree to another. A very tame Masked Parrakeet stayed about the garden, going into an aviary through a door in the roof to feed. Great-billed Parrakeets also stayed well and fed in the same way : they were much more active at liberty than in cage or aviary. A cock Alexandrine and a tame Layard’s did not stay long, while a cock Blue-bonnet did not stay at all, and was last seen flying hard in the direction of its native land. Rainbow Buntings stayed but did not breed, while a few Virginian Cardinals were a failure. A cock Gang-Gang Cockatoo stayed well and did not, so far as we knew, damage the trees. A Western Black Cockatoo which escaped at Peasmarsh went off at once and was not heard of again, though a tame specimen of a near relative, the Banksian, stayed well at Woburn Abbey. Some of the White Cockatoos were, of course, kept successfully at liberty at Cleres as were some of the Macaws which must have been a fine sight. A cock Yellow-bellied Parrakeet was liberated two or three winters at Warblington, each time going off until early the following spring, when he reappeared to visit his mate more and more frequently until he was caught up at the end of March. He continued to do this at Peasmarsh, but at last he was, we heard, shot some distance off by a gamekeeper who mistook him for a hawk — a quite excusable mistake for anyone not knowing Broadtails. Some of the Broadtails were inclined to fight with the others in the aviaries and the cock Brown’s lost its upper mandible through fighting with a Barnard’s through the wire-netting. I thought the cock Kings quite the best liberty Parrakeet for staying about the garden and being most often on view : they and the Pennant’s made a bright show against the green lawn or the evergreen trees. Zebra Finches, Common Fire-finches, Bib-finches, Bicheno’s, Lavender Finches, Cordon Bleus, Silver-bills, Avadavats, Orange Weavers, Common, Orange-cheeked, Orange-breasted, and St. Helena Waxbills stayed well at Warblington and kept up their numbers. JOHN YEALLAND - SOME BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY 63 The Weavers went off each summer, returning in the autumn, and I think they may have bred in some marshland near by. The cocks in colour made a bright show perched on their favourite bushes. The Fire-finches stayed about the garden and were fairly tame. They often picked about on the paths and for this reason no weed-killer other than agricultural salt was used. The sexes of the Zebra Finches were separated in winter and only the cocks were let out each morning into the garden. Before the Finches were let out they were trained in the aviary to go into the pigeon-hole of the shelter through a small inward-pointing wire funnel. A tray of seed was fixed both inside and outside the hole and after a time no more seed was put outside, the wire funnel put in place each day and the birds, seeing the food inside, went through without any difficulty. In the side of the aviary, high up, there was a panel covered with 1 in. mesh wire-netting on the outside and a movable panel covered with \ in. netting fitted inside, a narrow ledge fixed on both sides for the birds to perch on, so that when the time came to let them out all that was necessary was to take down the inside panel. Food was kept inside the shelter all the summer so the birds, or many of them, continued to go in and out of the aviary a good deal. Gorse bushes were fixed high up in the shelter and kept there all the year round, being, of course, renewed from time to time, but none of the birds ever nested inside. In the autumn the wire funnel was placed in position each day at about mid-day and at the same time the seed mixture outside in the trap was gradually discontinued, so that by the time the nights became really cold all the birds were roosting inside. At Peasmarsh conditions were not so favourable for the smaller liberty birds, for though the garden was quiet enough, there were many grey squirrels, stoats, weasels, Owls, rats, Jays, and Magpies about. A pair of Royal Starlings were liberated there, but they soon went off. At Hayward’s Heath the liberty birds did quite as well as at Warbling- ton, and Budgerigars of several colours did considerably better, possibly because they were not let out until they were nesting, when they went in and out of the aviary roof as they pleased. No doubt there are great possibilities in the keeping of suitable birds at semi-liberty in all its variations, including the letting out of insectivorous birds when they have young in the nest as had already been so successfully done with the Blue Robins. The same treatment might be successful with many seed-eating birds, particularly those which rear their young largely on insect life, though on the whole they probably would not be so quick at finding their way in and out of a small hole in the aviary netting. Some Parrakeets might be trouble¬ some in summer and autumn by reason of their fondness for fruit, particularly neighbours’ fruit. When liberating birds it is very important to allow them to come 64 J. DELACOUR - BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY out quietly and of their own accord as early in the morning as possible so that they do not stray by reason of being frightened and have all the day in which to find the food. If a number are to be let out, it might be a good plan to liberate about half their number at a time so that those still inside tend to keep the others about by their calls, and when those outside are quite at home in their new surroundings, they tend to keep the others about and to help them to find the food, when after a few days they in their turn are let out. It is very important, too, to be sure that the birds are finding the food and to provide water for them, for hunger and thirst will be more certain to drive them off than to keep them about. The feeding arrangements must be made to exclude as far as possible the wild birds, for otherwise very much more food will be required, and any small birds for which it is intended may be driven off. In addition to the careful observation of these rules, I expect success depends a great deal on the locality and whether one has a quiet garden with suitable cover, not too many Brown Owls, cats, and what gamekeepers call vermin which, from the avicultural view, might sometimes include the gamekeeper himself. * * * BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY AT VILLERS- BRETONNEUX AND AT CLERES (1905-1940) By J. Delacour Every aviculturist, I should say, has at the least occasionally dreamed, if not tried, to release some of his pets and to keep them around his house at semi- or total liberty. I shall only mention casually as kept at semi-liberty all the pinioned birds that inhabit, or, alas ! inhabited in the more civilized days of a recent past, so many gardens and parks surrounded by fences. Cranes and Waterfowl were the most popular. This way of keeping many of the larger birds is too widespread to be enlarged upon. Pheasants, Peafowl, Turkeys, Guineafowl, Brush Turkeys, and other game birds are also commonly kept under similar conditions, but with them escapes are frequent as they occasionally get over the fences from a high perch, or by climbing up the wire¬ netting. Many of these birds can also all be kept even in a more natural way if they have the use of their wings. Non-migratory waterfowl and Cranes can easily be induced to stay full winged if the surroundings are suitable and roomy enough. With less sedentary species it is often possible to keep the male of a pair full-winged while his mate J. DELACOUR - BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY 65 cannot fly. At Cleres we were successful in keeping various Cranes and Screamers in such a way. Small waders, such as Ruffs and Reeves, Curlews, Godwits, and Plovers, as well as Cattle Egrets, look very charming on a lawn during the spring and summer, when they find enough worms and insects to thrive happily. But it is a problem to winter them. We found that whenever these common birds are obtainable, it works very well to acquire a number of them early in the season and to turn them out into the gardens (when cats, rats, and other pests can be kept down) after pulling out some of the primaries of one wing. In a few weeks the feathers are grown again and the birds begin to fly. By that time they have become tame and accustomed to their surroundings, to which they form a marvellous addition. In the autumn, when the weather becomes cold and the food scarce, they leave for the south and join their wild brethren migrating from the north. We used also to keep at Cleres at liberty in the garden various other pinioned waders, the most conspicuous of which were a dozen or more Scarlet Ibises. These were always in brilliant red dress, as the natural food they found supplied them with the necessary colouring element. They proved much hardier than one could expect, being only confined to a small yard, with an unheated shelter, during the four coldest months of the year. Blue Porphyries will also do well under such conditions, and they look very beautiful, but they cannot be recommended as they are terrible nest-robbers and soon prove to be a great nuisance. Parrots, Pigeons, and small birds have been tried by several of my friends, particularly the Duke of Bedford and Mr. A. Ezra, with better success than I ever met. I kept some, however, on many occasions. Crested and Tigrine Doves did well, as also a few other species, but Brown Owls always decimated them during the winter. At various times Red Cardinals, Rice Grackles, and Rufous-necked Weavers stayed well and even reared young. The Weavers remained well over three years. Pekin Robins, White-crested Jay-Thrushes always disappeared promptly. I always had several free flying Macaws, including Hyacinths, Great Black Cockatoos ; various Amazons and Conures also lived at liberty for many years. Other Cockatoos, I found too destructive to trees and buildings and we never could keep free for long. All this is a thing of the past at Cleres. But Mr. F. E. Fooks is back there, and this past has a fair chance to be partly revived in the near future. As a link, I hear that a Festive Amazon, which we brought over from South America and liberated in 1921, is still to-day flying around the Manor House and the terrace. If he could talk better than he does, he would no doubt tell much, and some of his stories would probably bring tears to all my friends who knew Cleres in its former splendour. 66 A. SHERIFF - BLACK-HEADED SIBIAS AND OTHER BIRDS BLACK-HEADED SIBIAS AND OTHER BIRDS AT SEMI-LIBERTY By A. Sheriff, F.Z.S. It seems so long since the aviaries were occupied that I had quite a thrill on receiving our Editor’s letter asking if I would write on “ Birds at semi-liberty ”, with special reference to the Black-headed Sibia ( Icioptilia capistrata) . As a preface I would say how glad I was to have given all my birds to the Dudley Zoo at the outbreak of war for, apart from the difficulty of feeding, the aviaries, as such, do not now exist, thanks to the missiles that the Hun dropped around our neighbourhood. Now, instead, the derelict buildings house a few chickens, who do occasionally lay an egg. But to return to the subject, in the 1 903 edition of the Avicultural Magazine, the late Mr. Reginald Phillips gave an account of a near¬ success in breeding Black-headed Sibias. There is an excellent plate in this volume which does adequate justice to the beauty of these birds. One point, however, I want to alter my opinion expressed in the first article written in 1925, and to disagree with the late Mr. Phillips on the question of sex difference. In the first pair, which reared young, I could always distinguish the cock from the hen, but having since that time bred nearly twenty and had many more through the aviaries, both my wife and myself are satisfied that there is no visible sex difference. Whistler, in his Handbook on Birds of India , says “ sexes alike They are found throughout the Himalayas, even up to the snow line. Of all the many species of foreign birds which have passed through the aviaries, excluding Parrots, the Black-headed Sibia shows, in my opinion, the greatest intelligence of any, with the possible exception of the Racquet-tailed Drongo. They are active, cheerful, and when at liberty a real delight. The late Mr. Phillips described the chasing of the cock by the hen in the breeding season, and it is amazing to see how they avoid crashing into trees or wire. They are adept at catching meal-worms when thrown into the air and although not perching on one’s hands, will fly to take the meal-worms from the fingers. I do not now remember in which year the first pair bred at liberty in the garden, possibly 1927 or 1928, but the original pair which success¬ fully reared young in 1925 were given an aviary to themselves with a hole cut in the wire and were never shut up winter or summer. Admittedly, they knew where the food was and came regularly for meal-worms, and in the winter roosted indoors. When young were reared in the trees in the garden they were perfectly easy to catch up. A. SHERIFF - BLACK-HEADED SIBIAS AND OTHER BIRDS 67 I feared to let them stay too long with the parents, as I thought they might be driven away. They lived happily for about four years in this condition and then one morning in February the hen was found dead in the aviary and the cock was never seen again. This first pair were so anxious to breed that they started as early as the end of February one year, with the result that the hen very nearly died of egg binding, but with great care she pulled through and was breeding a month later. The late Mr. Phillips mentioned that a number were released in Kent, but apart from two or three who were inevitably shot, nothing further was heard of them. Lack of food during the winter would, at any rate in Kent, provide great difficulty for the Black-headed Sibia and possibly it is a good thing that they do not succeed in establishing themselves in this country, for they are particularly fond of fruit of all kinds. The Grey Sibia ( Sibia simillima), the first cousin of the Black-headed, is similar in habits but has no erectile crest. I believe I was the first to keep any of these birds in aviaries. It is not so confiding as the Black-headed. Out of seven which were in the aviaries, a pair was separated and bred in a big garden aviary. We thought to try the same experiment as had been done with the Black-headed after the young were hatched, but this time the experiment was a complete failure because the cock, having found his way out of the aviary disappeared completely. This bird inhabits Sumatra, is about the size of a Shama, with an equally long grey-and- white tail. The eye is red. We tried to breed Superb Spreo in a similar manner but though they readily found their way back to the aviary, once at liberty they neglected the young. Of the other birds at semi-liberty I would mention the White¬ cheeked Bulbul, the Persian species, which had been hand-reared, but used regularly to escape from his cage in the sitting-room and would spend two or three hours in the garden chasing other birds before bothering to return to his cage, which he always did. The Bulbul died after 1 5 years with us of old age. I do not think any article on birds at semi-liberty should pass without reference to the Trumpeters. I have had many pairs of these birds and they make really delightful companions. Apart from the fact that they have to be shut up at night, they are hardy and easy to feed. One pair we had admittedly strayed a bit, having to be rescued by the gardener from the Finchley Road. 68 DR. MAURICE AMSLER - BYGONE MEMORIES OF SEMI-CAPTIVE BIRDS BYGONE MEMORIES OF SEMI-CAPTIVE BIRDS By Dr. Maurice Amsler The above title to these notes has a double meaning in that I do not think any of my pleasant memories of semi-captive birds will ever be repeated. Much that is written has already appeared in these pages, but I have never flattered myself by thinking that my avicultural meanderings were sufficiently interesting to sink very deep into my readers’ memories, so it is to be hoped that a good deal will be news to at least a few. My earliest recollections go back to 1 880, am I therefore a pioneer among living aviculturists ? I was born and lived the first four years of my life in Beirut, where perhaps the favourite bird among the Arabs was the Goldfinch. I had one or two of these and also a Canary, but as these were kept in small cages and not let out they do not enter into the subject under discussion. Not so, however, two other pets, both extremely tame and seldom in their cages, one was a Syrian Bulbul and the other a Turtle Dove. Most of their lives were spent in our garden, the poor Dove fell a prey to a wandering cat, but the Bulbul was with us for nearly a year. He was absolutely tame, in fact almost aggressive, and I think that the interest he took in my eyes was the cause of his disappearance, anyhow I always suspected my parents of having plotted for this end. To those who will think that I have a striking memory for a child who was only three, I would recount the fact that I clearly remember my nurse who was carrying me being butted and sent sprawling by one of my father’s gazelles, and I am told that this woman left us when I was two years old. Our next step was to Alexandria, here our house had no garden but a big flat roof surrounded by a balustrade. This was a paradise for me, for although it was primarily intended for the drying of laundry I tried to convert it into a Whipsnade, or perhaps, a farmyard. At various times I had fowls, Geese, Turkeys, and even a young ram. Most of them were rescued by me from under the kitchen table, where the cook had deposited them on his return from market. My greatest joy, however, was the arrival of a large cage containing a great number of Quails, of which I was allowed to take a few. Someone cut a wing in each of these birds, or otherwise pinioned them, and after a few days in a small run they were so tame that I was able to give them the run of the whole roof. I do not think they “ stayed ” very long, probably finding their way to the top of the parapet, whence they flopped their way down to earth. My greatest disappointment was that I could not induce the Geese to swim. Although I repeatedly put them into a huge wash-tub they struggled and squawked and drenched me with water but would not “ stay put DR. MAURICE AMSLER - BYGONE MEMORIES OF SEMI-CAPTIVE BIRDS 69 After that we came to London where as a schoolboy I kept a number of birds, all hand-reared and all given much liberty in our back garden. Some of these had a wing cut in their early days, but finally learned to fly and also finally disappeared. There was a Thrush and a Starling, both of which would, for a time, come back when whistled. Then there was Jack, the Jackdaw, a perfectly delightful bird who uttered his name quite distinctly ; this bird, like most of his kind, was a great character and also a thief. One day, to my great sorrow, call as I would I could not find him, but after a short interval a very curt note arrived from the old spinster next door saying that Jack had flown in at her bathroom window and would we remove him ? I was, of course, delighted to recover my pet, but was met with very black looks ! History does not relate whether the old lady’s sense of modesty was shocked by being visited by this gentleman while she was having a bath ! Jack was one of three which I took from the nest while staying with a friend at Rickmansworth. On the same day I descended the hollow trunk of a pollarded elm and took two young Barn Owls, but when I came to climb up again I found it quite impossible ; had I not had a companion, who fetched a rope for me, my bones would still be moulder¬ ing inside that elm. The young Owls and Jackdaws were put in a loft and fed appro¬ priately, but apparently the Owls preferred Jackdaw to rabbits and mice, for one morning we found Jack sitting on a perch rather high up and no signs of his brothers except a few feathers. That day I returned to town with my pet, and my friend successfully reared the two Owls, which were finally liberated, though I was told that they did not immediately make off, but stayed around the house and showed signs of tameness for some time afterwards. During my student days all my spare time was taken by a kennel of bull- terriers, and it was not until I settled in Eton that I went back to birds.. My first experiment was the arrival of three young Ravens, which had travelled all the way from the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides — and I well remember that the carman who delivered them dumped the box at my door and rushed off at once ; later he told me that he had been driven to distraction by the awful din which these three hungry youngsters were able to raise. They were easily reared and were very tame, but also frightfully destructive and the worst gardeners of any livestock I have ever kept. Moreover, they were not without danger to my dogs, whose eyes caused these birds a great temptation. Two were given away, one to an Eton master, who kept him in a small aviary. This bird proved so noisy that some boys in a neighbouring house decided to murder him ; one adventurous spirit was chosen for the fell deed, climbed along the coping of the wall against which the aviary 6 70 DR. MAURICE AMSLER - BYGONE MEMORIES OF SEMI-CAPTIVE BIRDS abutted, and delivered his poison. The bird never turned a feather, and later when I met the boy I asked him what drug he had used. His answer was : “ Please, Sir, I had no poison of my own so I stole four cascaras from my Dame’s cupboard, they were sugar-coated and the bird swallowed them at once, but they did not even have the effect which they would have had on me.” My own Raven lived for several years in my back garden, usually full-winged. Occasionally I tipped the feathers of one wing ; this was usually after I had some complaint from a neighbour. I was very unpopular in those days, for my dogs killed cats and my Raven destroyed gardens. None the less I had great fun with this bird, who would sit at the open window of my dining¬ room waiting for scraps — he knew he was not allowed to come inside and he very seldom broke that rule. His chief fault was that he did not realize the strength of his bill or his claws, both of which left many a mark on my hands. His end was short and quick, for one morning I found him drowned in a rainwater tank. My next step was to buy a large Crystal Palace birdcage in which I kept as many species of hard-bills as I could procure. These included Goldfinches, Twites, Linnets, Yellowhammers, Buntings, etc., and, of course, I soon found that these birds would not agree in such a confined space, so I built a narrow aviary some thirty feet long in my small back garden. Here things went quite well and I added more British birds. In those days you could buy a Linnet for sixpence and a Bullfinch for a shilling. Before long, however, I was called in by a new patient, the late Mr. W. R. Temple, who was a member of the Avicultural Society, and I was immediately bitten by the disease from which we all suffer. “ I must go in for foreign birds.” There and then I decided to liberate my Britishers, but this was more easily said than done. I opened the entrance door of my aviary, I opened the feeding doors, I placed the food outside, also the water. The birds soon began to come out, but they also went back, and on the evening of the first day there was only one bird missing. For fear of cats I closed the doors that night, and on the following day the same thing happened again though I tried to “ shoo ” away my birds— -here, indeed, was an example of semi¬ liberty and an object lesson for the so-called humanitarians who picture our birds beating themselves against the cage wires. I have had the same experience with a bird which by accident escaped from a cage and was back again the same evening. On another occasion, when I had moved to a better site, I had several aviaries. One of these was left open and a very mixed collection, including Doves, Thrushes, and Finches, escaped. There were sixteen all told, fifteen returned the same day to roost and the truant came back next morning and, being hungry, was easily trapped. DR. MAURICE AMSLER - BYGONE MEMORIES OF SEMI-CAPTIVE BIRDS 7 To return to my Britishers, I was finally forced to catch them up and take them for a short drive to Burnham Beeches, where they were turned loose with good wishes and blessings. Were it not for rats and cats I feel sure that most of these birds, but more especially the Gold¬ finches and Bullfinches, would have lived on safely with a little training, such as observing the Sabbath once a week with all doors shut. When I moved to a new house I had a reasonable garden backing on to many acres of meadow land which ran down to the Thames. Here I had a much better opportunity to keep birds in semi-captivity, and considering that my house was within thirty yards of the busy High Street of Eton my losses were extraordinarily few. Indeed, only one of my failures was due to human agency ; this case might be cited straight away. Sir Godfrey Davis, on one of his returns from India, gave me a number of Red Avadavats. After housing them in an aviary for some weeks, I caught up three pairs and placed them in a large cage with a wire partition, the cocks being separated from the hens. The cage was hung in the garden and carefully covered at night. After a day or two the cocks were liberated. They only flew a few yards and were soon home again for a feed, so it was easy to catch them up by pulling to the door by means of a string. Next day the same process took place with the hens until, finally, all three pairs were liberated together. They stayed quite well for several days, but their home visits became fewer and, finally, I thought all had gone off for good — though I did hear descriptions of “ foreign birds ” seen in various gardens near by. What was my joy weeks later to see a nice little hen Avadavat, accompanied by several young, feeding on waste seed which had fallen on one of the garden paths. After this food was daily scattered at that spot and my charming little family paid me two visits a day, one about io a.m. and the other in the evening. I saw nothing of the cock and presumed he had lost his spouse or possibly been killed. One sad day I missed the little hen and her young and found it difficult to understand their sudden disappearance, but later I learned that a working man in whose little garden these birds had nested, had caught the cock while the hen was sitting, and that finally, using the cock as a decoy, he had also caught the hen ; after which the young, who had no one to guide them, doubtless strayed and dispersed. I was very sore about this as everyone in the town knew me and my hobby, and this particular man had often been given an odd bird which I did not require. Although this species was then quite common, this was one of my most pleasant avicultural experiences, and knowing the approxi¬ mate hour of the Avadavat family’s visit I was often able to show my friends an unusual and very charming sight. 72 DR. MAURICE AMSLER - BYGONE MEMORIES OF SEMI-CAPTIVE BIRDS Other Waxbills which I have tried were Gordon Bleus, Blue-breasted Waxbills, and Green Avadavats. All went off fairly soon, but the Green Avadavats did raise my hopes by starting a nest in my garden. Any¬ how, these birds are not free breeders at any time. Zebra Finches, I felt sure, would be a success. I surrounded them with nest-boxes, which they examined assiduously when liberated, but all disappeared in a very few days. One or two were caught and returned to me later. My conclusions are that very few seed-eaters will stay when liberated, that it is an expensive experiment, and that fundamentally it is unkind to the birds themselves, in that they will all almost certainly starve with the advent of winter. An exception might be made in the case of Bullfinches. For many years I was never without two or three pairs of those handsome Siberian Bullfinches (not the German or Russian sub-species) . Try as I would, I could never breed these birds. I have had young in the nest scores of times and on one occasion a chick left the nest only to die from inattention from his parents. Eggs put under Canaries were always hatched out, but even the long-suffering Canary is soon frightened away by the young Bullfinches’ enormous maw and beak. Finally I put a pair of these Siberians in a partitioned cage and soon liberated the cock. The marital devotion of this species is proverbial (even if it is exaggerated) , and very soon the cock was back at the cage feeding his hen through the wires. A great feature of these birds is that they are continually calling to each other, so they are not likely to become parted, and by the same token their owner can usually locate them. All looked rosy, the hen was liberated to join the cock and within a very few days was sitting in a juniper within a few feet of the aviaries. No food was ever provided outside the cage, but their seed pan was always full of sunflower seed, with which the cock kept the hen well supplied. During her twelve days of incubation I never once saw her off the nest. Later I knew they had young, and then the Duke of Bedford’s X appeared on the scene — the nest was empty and both birds sitting about and looking quite disconsolate. A rat, I suspected. After a few days my two birds began to make themselves scarce ; the hen rarely showed up, though the cock came for his seed ration once or twice a day. The Bullfinches’ white rump feathers make it easy to follow their flight, and with glasses I was able to decide that they always flew to a garden about two hundred yards to the north of mine. This happened to belong to an Eton master, who was something of a naturalist, and at my request he kept his eyes open and finally told me that my birds had a nest at the very top of a tall pear tree. The situation was almost inaccessible for me and, anyhow, I did not wish to disturb the sitting hen, but when three weeks had passed and we saw nothing of the birds, I took a risk of broken bones and clambered up with much difficulty, only to find a nest with three or four cold eggs, each with a neat round DR. MAURICE AMSLER - BYGONE MEMORIES OF SEMI-CAPTIVE BIRDS 73 puncture. Was this X, or possibly a Starling ? After this I saw less and less of my two old birds, and as I had a couple more pairs in the aviaries I allowed them to have their liberty hoping they might establish a nucleus of Siberian Bullfinches in the neighbourhood. If they did so I was never able to discover it. It was not until 1912, when new aviaries were built, that I was able to make any serious experiments with birds at liberty, and then proved, as is already well known, that the presence of young in the nest is the most powerful incentive for luring liberated birds back to their own aviary. They also taught one that small aviaries, each containing only one pair of birds, were essential if the birds were not to be given complete liberty, with just a cage to act as a snack bar and also a trap. Insectivorous birds and also the many species which feed their young largely on insects though they are in fact seed eaters always turn out to be the best subjects for semi-liberty. A supply of mealworms and other delicacies, such as fresh ants5 eggs and cockroaches, will always produce the urge to return to their aviaries with food for their young, whereas any amount of seed in the case of true and purely vegetarian hard-bills, such as Goldfinches or Linnets, will not have this effect, or at any rate to a much less degree. In this connection it is worth while stating that one can easily spoil liberty birds by being too lavish with the supply of mealworms or other insects. The birds very soon learn that it is not necessary for them to hunt the coverts, and just sit about waiting for their owner’s next arrival, thus depriving their young of much natural and fresh insect food, which must surely be more wholesome than the staple mealworm. Perhaps the most exciting and also terrifying moment is when the old birds emerge from their aviary for the first time, any loud noise or other cause of fright may cause them to dash straight off for good. I always tried to contrive that the cock should come out alone when the hen was brooding her young or busy inside her nest-box. A tin of mealworms placed on the sill of the open feeding door is a good first lesson, the bird helps himself and goes back to the nest, taking no advantage of the open door. Next the tin can be fixed to a post a few feet outside the door. If the bird goes straight back you pat yourself on the back, but more often he flies on to the aviary roof and tries to get back through the wires ; finally he loses patience and swallows his mealworms. Meanwhile, you have crept up and replaced the tin in number one position ; this he soon discovers and once more returns to the aviary. Having had his first lesson he can be shut in for a hour or two, after which he should be tried again ; next time the insects can be scattered on the ground. It must be remembered that a bird’s view of the surrounding country 74 DR. MAURICE AMSLER - BYGONE MEMORIES OF SEMI-CAPTIVE BIRDS is very limited by the walls forming their aviary and that much which they see on coming out is absolutely and completely new to them, none the less, once they have learned their way around they never forget it, and the following year both birds can be liberated without the slightest risk of their losing their way. A sound precautionary plan is to close the feeding door at night. My own plan was to put in a good supply of mealworms for the morrow’s breakfast after dark when I closed the door, which my man used to open as soon as he had made sure that all was well and the young were being fed. An example of what may happen if you neglect this precaution will be related when treating of Blue Robins. One of my earlier serious experiments with birds which had young already hatched in their aviary concerns a pair of Green Cardinals. These had, in the past, reared several broods of young, but as the diet consisted almost entirely of insects I decided to see whether they would not collect their own provender if given freedom. The experiment was completely successful, very few insects were provided by me. A very large amount of aphis or greenfly was used and the young were the finest I had ever reared. It is, of course, possible that the old birds collected buds or other greenstuff to which they had not access when confined to their aviary. I had, for a long time, wished to breed one of the Parid; one being much more stoutly built and much bluer in colour than the other. Had I known Diamond Doves then as well as I got to know them later, I should have realized that some¬ thing was amiss because cock Diamond Doves, like all their tribe, are never happier than when cooing and displaying to their lady loves, whereas these two sat in heaps all day long and looked unutterably bored with life. Up till now they had been loose in the main aviary, but I eventually exchanged one of them for a cock and the pair were placed in one of the small finch flights, where they reared several excellent broods of young, always preferring to make their scanty nests on the wire floor of the flight, up in one corner, and scorning the shallow boxes which I carefully fixed up for them on the walls. My first pair of Bengalese were tried loose in the aviary, along with the other Finches at first, and, strangely enough, made much more use of the space than I expected of such artificial little birds. They hopped and climbed about among the bushes with much tail flirting and obviously were enjoying sensations which must have been foreign to them and their kind for centuries ; if what the bird books tell us about their ancestry is true. They went to nest there, annexing the usual type of wooden finch nest-box, and reared a few nice young ones. Later on they were confined in a small finch flight, where, although they continued to thrive, their breeding results were not so good, largely because I rather messed them about by putting Gouldian eggs under them which, even when they did hatch, they seldom made a success of rearing. I bought a pair of aviary-bred Bichenos one autumn, intending to breed with them the following year, but the aviary came to an end before these hopes were realized. For six months, however, I and all who saw them were entertained by these quaint owl-faced mites, whose lack of brilliant colours was amply made up for by their delicately beautiful markings in black and white. Something about their shape and quick spritely movements reminded me as much of Tits as of Finches, and this likeness was accentuated by their habit of sleeping side by side in a coco-nut shell. If you looked at them when they 104 D- H. S. RISDON - REMINISCENCES VI were inside all you saw were two small white faces, each encircled by a black ring, staring at you for all the world like those of two tiny Owls. I had been warned that Pin tailed Nonpareil Parrot Finches were ! difficult birds to keep, but one day, seeing what looked like a true pair in a London dealer’s shop, I was so smitten by their lovely colouring that I decided to try my hand at them, even though the cock was minus a foot. They were fed on paddy rice and the vendor told me that the secret of success with them was to keep them on this diet and not try to force them on to any other food. Their strong black beaks were certainly capable of cracking such hard fare, and throughout their stay with me I always left paddy rice before them. They soon learnt to eat canary seed as well, however, but I do not think millet was ever taken. Their only attraction was their beautiful colouring, quite the loveliest of all the Parrot Finches ; but one seldom had the chance to admire it because of their wildness and their maddening habit of flitting from end to end of their aviary so fast that the eye could hardly follow. With the onset of autumn the supposed hen, which until then had been garbed in dull green with a faint pinkish flush on the abdomen and a dull red tail, revealed its true sex by moulting into male plumage even more resplendent than that of its one-footed companion. During the winter I bought another dull plumaged Pintailed Nonpareil, and this time I think I really had a hen. The other one had always had, even in immature plumage, very slight points to its two central tail feathers, but the newcomer had a perfectly square- ended tail. Although they lived with me and throve for some six months the prophecy that they were difficult birds proved true in the end. There came one of those mild muggy spells of winter weather which frequently succeed a cold one, and one morning all three birds, which the day before had appeared perfectly fit, were found dead. The post mortem report was pneumonia as it so often is in the case of small foreign Finches. So ends my account of an aviary which lasted from 1929 to 1937 and was a source of as much joy to me as any part of my avicultural career. From it I learned that where good breeding results, that is to say where large numbers of young, are the main object, a separate aviary for each pair of birds is the best rule. If, however, one keeps birds primarily for the pleasure of possessing them and watching their interesting and amusing ways, with breeding results as a secondary consideration, the large planted aviary cannot be beaten. BRITISH AVICULTURISTS’ CLUB IO5 As I have described in this and previous articles breeding can be quite successful in a mixed aviary, and young can be reared provided you select your species with care and take note of individual temperaments. You will not get the fullest enjoyment from your birds unless you give them mates, so that you can watch the different phases of their life cycle the year round. A collection of bachelor birds looks very nice but becomes deadly dull after a while, unless you are constantly changing your collection or adding something to it. Your birds will eat and sleep and potter idly about in a bored fashion, and you will miss all the wonderful and interesting reactions and displays towards one another, which are manifest during the courtships and breeding period. Since commencing this series of articles the war has come to an end sooner, it must be confessed, than was expected. I feel justified therefore in finishing on a more optimistic note than that on which I started, and expressing the hope that the time surely cannot be very far away when those of us who have been for so long without our hobby may soon be back at it, as deeply absorbed in it as ever. ❖ * * BRITISH AVICULTURISTS’ CLUB The first meeting of the Club was held at the Rembrandt Hotel, Thurloe Place, South Kensington, S.W. 7, on Wednesday, 10th April, 1946, at 6 p.m., followed by a dinner. Chairman.— Mr. D. Seth-Smith. Members of the Club present. — Miss P. Barclay-Smith, W. D. Bell, J. C. Bennett, Mrs. J. C. Bennett, H. Buckland, Capt. A. Clarence, Capt. B. H. Dulanty, M. D. England, A. Ezra, H. A. Fooks, A. G. Glenister, T. Goodwin, Dr. Tom Hare, Gerald lies, H. J. Indge, Terry Jones, Miss E. M. Knobel {Club Hostess ), Miss M. H. Knobel- Harman, P. R. Masser, P. H. Maxwell, C. T. Newmarch, K. A. Norris, Mrs. Phipps, Sydney Porter, A. A. Prestwich {Hon. Secretary ), F/Lieut. D. H. S. Risdon, R. Saunders, A. C. Soanes, Capt. H. S. Stokes, R. C. Witting, Wallace Wood, Mrs. L. Younger. Guest of the Club. — N. B. Kinnear. Guests. — Mrs. H. Buckland, Miss S. Goodwin, E. R. W. Lincoln, Malcolm Lyell, Mrs. D. Seth-Smith, C. J. Side, Mrs. R. C. Witting. Members of the Club, 33 ; Guests, 8 ; Total, 41. 106 BRITISH AVICULTURISTS’ CLUB The Chairman in his opening address said that this meeting was an event of very considerable importance, as it was the first to be held by the Club. He sincerely hoped that members would make every endeavour to ensure the success of subsequent meetings. The B.O.C. had flourished for over fifty years, and there was no reason why the B.A.C. should not enjoy similar success. He urged members to bring exhibits, rare live birds, first breedings, skins, and other items of avicultural interest, and to enter into discussions generally. Mr. N. B. Kinnear exhibited two photographs of a West African Grey Parrot from the waxworks at Westminster Abbey, and made the following remarks : — “ Some years ago, when the cases containing the wax effigies in Westminster Abbey were opened and the contents removed for cleaning, a stuffed African Grey Parrot was sent to the Natural History Museum for examination. The bird formerly belonged to Frances, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, better known as La Belle Stuart. She was the daughter of Dr. Stuart, who was attached to the house¬ hold of the Queen Dowager Henrietta Maria in France, and about 1 662 she came to London as maid of honour to Catherine of Braganza. She was a famous beauty and Pepys, who considered himself a great judge, wrote of her in his diary as one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, ‘ with her hat cocked on one side and a red plume, sweet eye, little Roman nose, and excellent taile \ Charles II was much enamoured with her and ultimately she became his mistress. In 1667 she eloped with the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, but after her husband’s death returned to Court. She purchased the estate of Lethrington in East Lothian which she bequeathed in her will to her nephew the Earl of Blantyre with the request that it should be called Lennoxlove, from Lennox’s love of Blantyre. The estate and mansion have ever since been known by that name. Early in the war the house was totally destroyed by fire caused by a disabled German plane falling on it. “ On 15th October, 1702, Frances Stuart died and was buried in her husband’s tomb in Westminster Abbey. Her effigy, at her own request, was placed close by, dressed in the robes she had worn at Queen Anne’s Coronation and ‘ as well done in wax as could be, under crown glass and none other ’. She was apparently fond of animals as well as birds, and besides leaving annuities to some poor gentlewomen left funds to maintain some of her cats. Hence Pope’s ‘ Die and endow a college or a cat ’. She appeared as Britannia on certain early coins and medals. There are several pictures of the Duchess, one of which is in Kensington Palace. “ So much for the owner of the Parrot. Of the bird itself we are told it only survived its mistress by a few days. Possibly it succumbed to grief, since according to the story it had been in the Duchess’s Avic. Mag. 1946. The Oldest Known Stuffed Bird in Great Britain West African Grey Parrot belonging to Frances, Duchess of Richmond, 1662-1702. [To face p. 106 BRITISH AVICULTURISTS’ CLUB 107 possession over forty years. This is nearly a record. The late Major Flower gives two Grey Parrots of 41 and 42 years old and accepts Gurney’s record of a bird which lived for half a century. How the bird came to be placed with the effigy in the Abbey history does not relate, and as one old writer says : ‘It, however, has fallen to but one Parrot to arrive at that distinction.’ “ The bird, when examined, was in good condition, little faded, and compared favourably with other examples long exposed in the exhibition galleries. The skin is mounted on a wooden manikin, there are no leg wires, but the body is supported by a wire from the stand to the wooden body. The eyes are of glass, painted on both sides. Undoubtedly this is the oldest stuffed bird in the country — over 240 years old. “ The Parrot is a typical West African Grey Parrot first given a binomial name, Psittacus erithacus by Linnaeus in 1758. His descrip¬ tion is not from an actual specimen but based on that of Aldrovandus in his Historia Naturalium. In that work the bird is called ‘ De Psittaco cinereo Sev. sub-caeruleo ’ and said to have come from ‘ Mina Cinitate D. Georgeo Indica ’. This was Elmina or St. George del Mina, a fortified town a few miles south-west of Cape Coast Castle. Dr. John Ray, writing in his Synopsis Avium , completed in 1 694 but not published till 1713, remarks that there are many Grey Parrots in London. The bird Aldrovandus described was most likely a captive bird brought back from Elmina by traders previous to 1599. But long before that date there was at least one Grey Parrot in London, some time before 1547. The story about this bird was first, as far as I can discover, put into print by Conrad Gesner, the Swiss naturalist, and he has been quoted by many later writers. As that work is not at present available I quote from Dr. Shaw in his General Z°°l°gy> 1812. The Grey Parrot seems to be the species to which the memorable anecdote, related by Gesner, refers. The bird belonged to King Henry VIII and accidentally fell out of the Palace of Westminster into the Thames ; and then, says Willoughby, “very sensibly remembering the words it had often heard some, whether in danger or in jest, use, cried out amain, £ A boat, a boat for twenty pounds ! ’ A certain experienced boatman made thither presently, took up the bird, and restored it to the King, to whom he knew it belonged, hoping for as great a reward as the bird had promised. The King agreed with the boatman that he should have as the bird, being asked anew, said : and the answer ‘ Give the knave a groat ’.” Mr. Ezra gave some details of his lutino and blue Alexandrine Parrakeets. He said that in 1923 he visited his brother in India and on his return to England, thanks to the generosity of Sir David, he was able to bring with him an example of both these remarkable colour varieties. He then dealt briefly with their subsequent breeding o8 BRITISH AVIGULTURISTS’ CLUB history. After ten years’ patient endeavour he succeeded in breeding a young blue in 1 934, and two lutinos in the following year. Whereas lutino Alexandrines had proved extremely difficult to breed, lutino Indian Ring-neck were comparatively easy, and he had bred many. Mr. K. A. Norris said that during his recent service in India he had seen a Blue Ring-neck. He first saw it high in a mango tree at Sialkot, Punjab, on 9th August, 1945, and on several subsequent occasions. It was always with a flock of seven, the remaining six all being normal. The bird was of a delightful clear greyish blue, not so brilliant as the sky-blue Budgerigar, but far more attractive than the blue variety of Masked Lovebirds lately on exhibition at the Zoo. The pink ring was replaced by similar marking of a greyish white ; flights and central tail feathers very dark grey and outer tail feathers almost white. The beak was normal red. The bird seemed abnormally shy and always remained high in the trees, whereas the others of the flock were comparatively confiding. Mr. Norris added that he had seen a caged specimen of a lutino Blossomhead, a cock bird entirely of a clear golden yellow with the exception of the head which retained its full normal colour. Mr. T. Goodwin, on behalf of Mr. E. N. T. Vane, unhappily prevented by illness from being present, exhibited two mounted lutino Nyasaland Lovebirds. He said that on his own return from Australia in 1937 he had brought six of these lutinos, bred there with several others by Mr. Prendergast. The birds now shown were two of his importation. As far as he could judge all six were females. In the discussion that followed Mrs. Younger said that Miss de Pledge was still managing to maintain her stock of blue Masked Lovebirds in the Isle of Wight ; and Mr. E. R. W. Lincoln remarked that he had recently seen several in the aviaries of Mr. G. P. Phillips. They were in particularly fine condition. Mr. Sydney Porter observed that in New Zealand Lovebirds had proved most prolific, and that the various species had inter-bred to such an extent that they were no longer recognized as Lovebirds, but were known merely as Nyasas. Mr. K. A. Norris, back from India only a few days previous to the meeting, gave a very interesting account of visits he had made to some Indian aviaries. The meeting finally dispersed at 9.30 p.m. Announcements. — Membership of the B.A.C. is now 87. Several donations have been received : Mr. J. Spedan Lewis, £5 ; Dr. M. Amsler, 15^. ; Mrs. J. A. Prestwich, 15J. The second meeting of the Club will be in September on a date to be announced later. A. A. P. Avic. Mag. 1946. John Frostigk Last Original Member of the Avicultural Society. To facep. 109] OBITUARY 109 OBITUARY “J. F ” 1865-1946 John Frostick was born at Cockermouth, Cumberland, on 20th June, 1865. After serving as a volunteer in the Border Regiment he went to Australia in 1885, where he served in the Queensland Scottish. He soon returned, married, and made his home at Workington until 1895, when he came to London, where he lived until 1940. Son of a yeoman, “ J. F.” early showed an interest in natural history generally, and this interest was to be maintained for many years — his avicultural experience ranging over a period of sixty-five years. His first foreign birds were a pair of Budgerigars. He won his first premier prize at the Crystal Palace Show of 1892, with his famous King Parrakeet “ Invincible Joey ”. That win was merely the fore¬ runner to many premier honours at the “ Palace ” and elsewhere, some outstanding successes being the winning of six “ Palace ” Championship Medals, the “ Burgess ” and “ Australasian 55 Trophies outright, and the “ Abraham’s Perpetual Trophy ” three times. His birds were always exhibited in faultless condition, but no little part of his success was due to the fact that he took unlimited trouble over the correct staging of his exhibits. Judging engagements — his first was in 1896 for the Kilburn and Maida Vale Fanciers’ Society — prevented his exhibiting on the scale he would have wished. His knowledge, which he was ever willing to impart, of softbills and their needs was unique. Who other than “J. F.” could have not only hand-reared a brood of the rare Dartford Warbler, but have kept one in perfect health for nearly nine years ? This bird — “ Champion Perfection ” — shown at all the leading London shows, probably created a record for the number of “ firsts ” and “ specials ” won by a single bird. Incidentally, a nest-brother was claimed at the Crystal Palace Show for twelve guineas, at that time a record price for a small British insectivorous bird. In 1890 he was the originator of the first show ever held for British and foreign birds only, at Workington. The judge on that occasion was Dr. W. T. Greene, of Parrots in Captivity fame. He was one of the original members of the Council of the United Kingdom Foreign Cage Bird Society, which held the very first show for foreign birds only, at Preston in 1891. He was also one of the originators, member of the first Council, and British bird expert of the Avicultural Society ; in addition, he was a member of the United Kingdom British Bird and Mule Club, and afterwards on its reconstruction to the National B.B. and M.C., he was for several years hon. secretary and treasurer, and hon. show manager. When he relinquished his various I 10 OBITUARY offices he left the club with over two hundred members, and in acknowledgment of his services was made an Hon. Life Vice-President. He organized and managed the great Specialist Show, held by the N.B.B. and M.C. and Foreign Bird Exhibitors’ League, at the Crystal Palace in 1 898, for British and foreign birds only ; where he exhibited — not for competition — a remarkable and unique collection of thirty Paradise Whydahs — all cage-moulted and in full colour and plumage, a sight probably never equalled at any bird show. At the same show his Tree-creeper — the second of its kind ever exhibited — won first and special. During his long connection with aviculture he had many rare exotic birds in his bird-room, and a large number of our members will have vivid recollections of visits to his house at Streatham. Books, as well as birds, were the attraction. “ J. F.” had an unrivalled knowledge of ornithological works, and could always be relied on to obtain almost any book in faultless condition. A staunch supporter of the “ Crystal Palace ” Shows for some fifty years, he judged the foreign section at the recent show. Possibly the strain and excitement were too much for him and he died on 8th March in his eighty-first year and within a few months of his diamond wedding. The passing of “ Old John ” leaves a gap in the ranks of aviculturists that can never be filled. A. A. P. Whilst I am aware that the Obituary Notice with reference to our late friend and member, Mr. John Frostick, is in the capable hands of Mr. Prestwich, I take the opportunity of adding my great appreciation of his undoubted worth. It must be over forty-five years ago since I first met him and during that period the number of exotic species of living birds which passed through his hands constituted an almost unique experience. Apart from his great interest and excellent judgment of birds from an exhibition standpoint, he was a very good bird-keeper and at sexing those species in which distinctions are not well marked he excelled. Few men in the past have helped to the same degree in popularizing the exhibition of exotic species at bird shows and in consequence caused such gatherings to become of more than ordinary interest. Of those names which figure among the officials of this Society in 1894 no one survives him. Through a long association, I look back upon many interesting incidents relative to birds and bird-keeping shared in his company and his fund of anecdote concerning these matters was very rich. Any knowledge or information acquired by him during a period of over sixty years was always at the disposal of other bird-keepers and his generosity in this respect, coupled with a natural kindness and genial manner, will always be remembered by those who came in contact with him. Allen Silver. RAY MURRAY - NOTES ON LORIKEETS IN CAPTIVITY IN AUSTRALIA I NOTES ON LORIKEETS IN CAPTIVITY IN AUSTRALIA By Ray Murray A new mutation has turned up in Australia in the Blue Mountain Lorikeet ( Trichoglossus moluccanus). As it may prove of interest to others I will try to give a description of it. The back, wings, tail, rump, and undertail coverts a daffodil yellow. Chest and breast red, with an edging of yellow to each feather. Lower breast to vent a deep pink. There are about three feathers on each side of lower breast, purple. There is also a few green feathers on the shoulder of the wings. The head, throat, and face are rather hard to describe. Actually the ground colour is a deep pink, centre of forehead red, with flecking or splashes of purple and white going through it. Has the normal band of light green on nape of neck. Under wing feathers red. Eyes appear to be normal, but owner said they were black. The bird was not in bright sunshine and was very timid, so didn’t like to disturb it too much. The feet are pinkish and the beak is red. The bird is on seed so it must have been in captivity for a few months. I was informed that it was a cock, but he had it in with another normal bird, and to all appearances this normal bird was a cock bird. A very old bird fancier here was telling me that he had two Yellow Greenies ( Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet) some years back, but when they moulted the following year they moulted back to normal Greenies again. I am wondering if this Yellow Blue Mountain will do the same ? Perhaps a word or two on the methods as to how they keep Lorikeets over here in captivity would not go amiss. I think, generally speaking, most fanciers get their Lorikeets into seed as soon as possible. This doesn’t take long, and they claim they are better for it and live longer. The feed used is dry maize meal, which is before them always, plain canary, sunflower, and milled oats. In addition to these a bit of apple, pear, or papaw is given about twice a week. Plain or fruit cake is also given twice a week. For green food lettuce or chick weed. One chap who has had years of experience with the Lorikeets tells me that he finds that to get them on to seed is far better than honey. He found that white or brown sugar scours the birds and that Golden Syrup is not as good as honey. He has kept a Bluie in a cage 4 ft. by 18 in. by 18 in. for sixteen I I 2 RAY MURRAY - NOTES ON LORIKEETS IN CAPTIVITY IN AUSTRALIA years, and it has been on seed all this time. A nest is fitted on the outside of the cage and it breeds every year. A close watch has to be kept on the birds when youngsters have been out of the nest a while as the parents will scalp them when they go to nest again. All the youngsters have been bred on just what is given to old birds that are on seed. He states that the Little Lorikeet ( Glossopsitta pusilla) is one of the hardest Lorikeets to get on to seed. For these he gives milk arrowroot biscuit soaked with honey water (one teaspoonful of honey to half a cup of water). I believe this will not go sour. He has a Greenie mated to a Bluie, but their first lot of eggs were destroyed by Onarrians. They were given an aviary to themselves, but didn’t attempt to nest again. He finds that Lorikeets kept in small cages, the ones fed on seed will outlive the ones that are fed on honey. It appears that the honey-fed birds need plenty of flying exercise. Another well-known fancier here feeds his Lorikeets on a slice of wholemeal bread dampened with water and then spread with honey. His birds are kept in an aviary that has an outdoor flight so get plenty of exercise. This recalls to mind a pair of Blue Mountains a fancier has in Melbourne. These birds are on seed and have been in his possession as far back as I can remember. The cage is 4 ft. by 3 ft. by 2 ft., and the seed husks in the bottom of the cage are inches deep. The birds never fail to rear two nests each year, and for the first nest the birds scratched a hole in the seed husks in one corner and the hen laid and reared her two chicks on the floor of the cage. A nestbox was fitted to the outside of the cage after that and they are still keeping the good work going. There is one thing that puzzles me when feeding honey-eating birds and that is why, in practically all cases, is the honey diluted down and not fed in the pure undiluted form. We hear of birds taking fits when given pure honey, even to their deaths, yet I am given to understand honey is just the nectar from flowers collected by the bees. Is it then that it undergoes some chemical changes after the bees have stored it up or does it go into a concentrated form of the nectar ? Perhaps some of our bird experts can enlighten me on this matter ? FRANCIS H. RUDKIN - PEAFOWL I 1 3 PEAFOWL By Francis H. Rudkin, Fillmore, Calif. Reprinted from Aviculture , Vol. V. Having had quite a number of letters asking how to manage Peafowls, I will give my experience. They are one of the most gorgeous types of bird and do well in pens or at liberty. There are four varieties : Indian Blue, Java Green, Black¬ shouldered, and White. The White is a sport from the Blue, as is also the Black-shouldered, but each form breeds true to colour. The Green is a distinct species, and one of the most handsome. It differs in the formation of the crest and the bare skin of the face, the latter being blue and yellow, very pronounced ; and its neck and breast are green, scaled with gold and black. The female of this species is coloured like the male, but lacks train and tail. The old Green male is often savage and will attack a man or a dog. Peahens lay between eight and twelve eggs in a clutch, and we usually take the first nest of eggs away and let a common hen hatch and rear them. The Peahen will lay another clutch, which we allow her to sit on and raise. The young Peachicks are hatched with wing feathers and are soon able to fly. Incubation takes between 28 and 30 days. We feed the young Peachicks hard-boiled egg and cracker crumbs, with much finely chopped lettuce and spinach. After the third day we give a saucer of dry chick mash, and sprinkle over a little egg and cracker, gradually increasing chick meal. They prefer it slightly dampened, but, above all, we give much green food, and, of course, clean water. When they are about ten days old, begin grain, with a little millet seed at first. Since they need more animal food than chickens when they are larger, occasionally give an egg in the mash, or a bit of cooked liver. Feed the adults the same as chickens ; mash in the mornings, green food at midday, and grain sparingly in the evening. I give for a change carrots cut up into small pieces, apples, and other cheap fruit. We find them easier to raise than Turkeys or Pheasants. The adult birds are very hardy and free from disease, but never should be allowed to roost in poultry houses with chickens. Their pen or run should be large, the larger the better, with a minimum size of 14 feet for a pair, with a roof 6 feet by 4 feet, and one side enclosed against prevailing wind. Under the roof provide a perch as high as possible. This recommendation is for Southern California conditions. My pens are high because they cover a large orange tree and the Peafowl roost in the tree in summer and in winter with no other protection. If I kept one variety only it would be the White Peafowl. They 4 FRANCIS H. RUDKIN - PEAFOWL are easily tamed, and so far I have never found the males vicious ; and when in full plumage the dazzling white is beauty unsurpassed. In one of the pens used for the Peafowls I keep Doves, Canaries, and Finches. In another are twelve pairs of Peach-faced Lovebirds. I have one Blue Peacock that is very tame. He eats from my hand and follows me around. He is twelve years old, and I have bred from him for nine years. Almost all of the eggs have been fertile. Peafowl are said to live fifty years. When young they are excellent for food, but are too valuable for that purpose. The White and Blue Peahens do not lay until their second year, and the Green do not lay until the third season. Males are not in full plumage until their third season. At moulting time, usually in July, the males drop their long train feathers remarkably quickly but it takes about four months for them to grow again. In the Spring, before the mating season, the neck of the male enlarges just around the junction of the head, his voice changes, and he screams all through the breeding season. This is his one bad habit. The male Peacock will mate with several hens. The Green Peafowl is not considered so hardy as the other varieties. My opinion is that when thoroughly acclimatized it will be as hardy as the others. We find the young Peachicks are much tamer and easier to raise with a hen (chicken). See that your hen is free from lice and worms, also that her legs are free from the disease called scaly leg, and that she comes from a flock of poultry that is free from roupe. This may appear a large order, but Peachicks, although naturally hardy and healthy, are subject to poultry ailments. I am frequently asked for a remedy for roupe and kindred ailments. Use the axe and burn the body. All our Peafowl are raised here. Our surplus birds and young stock run at liberty. Only the breeding birds are confined in pens. We do not care to sell eggs. There is too much risk in buying eggs ; if the eggs fail to hatch the seller is blamed. We pack all birds in light crates and guarantee safe delivery. Peafowl are long-lived. We have a male in perfect health and plumage 18 years old, and another we imported from Holland thirteen years ago. The latter has headed one of our breeding pens for thirteen years, and is still going strong. If you need any other information, please ask. We are always pleased to show our collection of foreign birds, etc., to anyone interested. If you can advise me when you are coming, I shall be at home. The male Peafowl is called Peacock ; the female, Peahen ; the baby, Peachick. A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS I 1 5 AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS IN THE SCAMPTON COLLECTION By A. F. Moody (' Continued jrom p . 141) Crows, etc. In addition to a limited number of foreign species, most of the British representatives of the family Corvidae have been kept here. They are all birds which, according to the writer’s experience, are easy to cater for, do extremely well in confinement, and are chiefly remarkable for their great familiarity, quaint habits, and the readiness with which they adapt themselves to artificial conditions. Housing and Requirements Generally. — As a group these birds may be said to be rather noisy, dirty, and mischievous subjects, too big for cage life and seen at their best when kept in a roomy outdoor aviary provided with an open-fronted shelter shed of the usual type. In the matter of furnishing an aviary intended for the larger species, we find nothing better as a floor covering than clean sand (this admits of the fouled portions beneath the perches being renewed daily). As regards woodwork, etc., taking into consideration the habit that some of the more formidable species (Raven, Carrion Crow, etc.) acquire of pulling things to pieces, it is well to have the interior of their aviary as plain as possible, and the perches plain substantial affairs devoid of loose bark or useless twigs. Bathing. — This family of birds are much addicted to bathing, and as being conducive to their general health, and a sleek appearance, I would recommend that a large bath of clean water be at all times left within their reach. Food. — As to food supply for these birds, though certain species are largely carnivorous, the majority are omnivorous and require frequent changes and variety of diet. They are also birds that, like the true soft-bills, do not eat full meals, and are better with food continually before them. As a useful foundation for the Jackdaw, Jays, Magpies, etc., we have satisfactorily used the insectivorous mixture prepared as for soft-bills, but considerably let down before the scalding by the addition of a mixture of one part Crissel to five parts Spratt’s chicken meal (biscuit). As regards extras and dainties, they appear to like nothing better than table scraps, hemp, sunflower, various nuts, grain, acorns, with an occasional mouse, mealworm, plucked Sparrow, bird’s egg, or piece of lean meat. For the coarser feeding Raven, etc., nothing in the shape of table-scraps comes amiss, and although we largely use other items here (damaged wild rabbit, rats, etc.), I would recommend scalded dog biscuit as a reserve food, supplemented with such rats, mice, chicken, and game heads as can be procured. 9 I 1 6 A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS Chough [Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax ) For many years a pair of these pleasing and ornamental birds were kept here. They proved excellent doers, easy to manage and, in spite of the fact of their both being perfectly full-winged, confiding enough to be with safety allowed full liberty. These birds were let out of their aviary for an hour’s exercise almost daily, and were generally coaxed back at the end of that time, not because there was any danger of their straying, but because of their tiresome habit of entering open windows, and the more familiar male’s trick of thrusting his head beneath people’s feet or into closing doors, there was a certain amount of risk in their being at large. Habits , etc. — As to their behaviour generally — when confined in an aviary I did not observe that they excelled in either gracefulness of movement or in activity. When at large, however, it was noticeable that they possessed an extraordinary amount of wing power and were wonderfully quick and active. They took a great amount of exercise which frequently included grand sweeping circles of several hundred yards in extent ; also, as might be expected, they avoided trees and settled only upon the ground, upon railings, or high buildings (usually the chimney stacks of the house). Food. — Except for mealworms the three examples kept here cared little for variety, but thrived almost entirely upon Spratt’s chicken meal (biscuit), to which before scalding a sprinkling of Crissel, hemp, and grocer’s currants, had been added. Breeding. — The female was probably too old to produce eggs, but annually for some years the pair took possession of a large wooden box (this was affixed to the wall in the darkest corner of their shed, was about 2 feet square, and contained a hole in the front large enough to admit the birds), and built a perfect nest. The writer has but once seen the Chough in a state of nature, an occasion when it was curious to hear the very familiar note issuing from wild birds. It was very pleasing also to note their wonderful wing power as they circled above the waves of a rock-bound coast. Nutcracker ( Nucifraga caryocatactes) Several kept. They are birds which, according to the writer’s experience, are usually received from the dealers in a reduced con¬ dition. When once established, however, they are absolutely hardy as regards weather conditions, but prove somewhat less easy to maintain in health for any number of years than the majority of this group. Disposition. — A wild restless species, not taming readily, and usually evincing a great disinclination to be observed. Habits , etc. — The Nutcracker in confinement may be said to be a very active and energetic bird, and being a true forest species our A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS I I J examples appeared much at home in, and greatly appreciated as cover and perches, the dead pine trees to which they had access. These were really stunted over-crowded specimens from the woods, which after having their lower branches removed, were sawn off at the required height and fixed upright from floor to roof of the shed. Breeding. — Accident, escape, and the disease of gapes, a malady to which the species appears rather prone, prevented us giving them a fair trial, and I have nothing to record under this heading. Food. — We gave various nuts, hemp, sunflower, meal, grain, etc., with an occasional mealworm or piece of lean meat. I would not recommend much animal food, although I observed our birds were very keen on meat, and never missed an opportunity of pouncing upon, plucking, and devouring any luckless Sparrow that entered their aviary. Guatemalan Jay ( Xanthoura luxuosa guatimalensis) We kept for about two years a pair of this very beautiful species. It is a true Jay possessed of all the amusing qualities of our common bird, which added to its rich colouring (blue, yellow, green, etc.), quaint habits, and extraordinary vocal powers make it a most desirable species to possess. Sexual Differences. —The supposed female of this pair differed chiefly from the male by her more feminine behaviour, and in having the nasal bristles not so erect. Hardiness. — Appeared to require artificial heat during the winter months. Venezuelan Green Jay (. Xanthoura cceruleocephala) We received with the pair of Guatemalan Jays a female of this nearly allied species, a bird which appeared to differ chiefly from that species by having the lower breast and abdominal regions pea green instead of yellow. Habits and Requirements. — Similar to those of the Guatemalan Jay. Both species appeared excellent doers, the three examples referred to being parted with at the same time and when in the best of con¬ dition. Blue Bearded Jay ( Cyanocorax cyanopogon ) A pair kept for some time. It is a species I may describe as rather Magpie-like in appearance, possessed of extraordinary vocal powers, quaint habits, and altogether an amusing and easy bird to keep. Sexual Difference. — Male considerably larger and more brightly coloured than the female. Breeding. — The species had no opportunity of nesting. Hardiness. — As a matter of convenience we provided artificial heat during the winter months. Il8 A, F. MOODY— AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF. SOME PERCHING BIRDS Common Jay ( Garrulus glandarius) Few birds make a more delightful or easily managed pet than a hand-reared Jay, and I may mention that a male, an old favourite here and seventeen years old, would in addition to squeezing into the pocket for dainties, follow one about and, in a most confiding manner, alight on the head, hand, or shoulder. This bird was also a fair mimic, his most faithful reproductions being the hoot of a Tawny Owl. Breeding. — This example was kept more as a pet than for avicultural study, but during a certain summer when a comparatively wild female was confined, with him, a typical Jay’s nest was built and young hatched. These I regret to say were not reared owing to the parents being bullied from the vicinity of the nest by a pair of breeding Mistle Thrushes. (Their aviary door having been thrown open to give them a chance of foraging for the young.) Azure-winged or Spanish Blue Magpie ( Cyanopica cyanus cooki ) For about five years until parted with, we possessed two supposed males of this rather rare species. It is a bird considerably smaller and more quietly dressed than our native species, but nevertheless in habits and structure a true Pie. Breeding. — Judging from the fact that these examples were frequently seen feeding each other and several times built a perfect nest, I should imagine a true pair might breed readily in confinement. Nest. — A rather neat open structure (i.e. not domed). The outer framework composed of dead beech sticks, the cup of dead grass, turf, etc., strengthened with a compact lining of short cow’s hair. Hardiness. — Wintered happily without artificial heat when given the protection of a shut-up sleeping shed. Magpie [Pica pica) But an odd specimen or two of this well-known bird accommodated here. A species which makes a most amusing pet, and is very long lived and easy to manage. Food. — Naturally largely carnivorous, or a carrion feeder. Magpies in this district are ever ready to take a meal from the carcass of a dead rat, rabbit, etc., and during the winter months in some numbers haunt the isolated and unsavoury premises of a dealer in fallen cattle. In confinement exceedingly partial to animal food in the shape of mice, young rats, fowls’ heads, etc. Breeding. — We have given the common Magpie no opportunity of nesting in the aviaries here, but I have known a certain pinioned and very tame male which enjoyed full liberty, pair with and induce a wild female to assist in the rearing of a brood of young within a few feet of his owner’s house. A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS I 1 9 White Jackdaw ( Colceus monedula ) Some half-dozen examples of this conspicuous variety kept here. Being absolutely white they prove interesting birds to possess, but decidedly more delicate in constitution than the natural bird. It is but fair to the variety, however, to add that when received from the dealers these examples had every appearance of having at some time or other been kept very badly, which may to some extent have accounted for their lack of stamina. I understand that the young of this variety originate from a certain church steeple in Germany. Carrion Crow ( Corvus cor one) This somewhat uncanny species has not recently been included in the collection, but from a close acquaintance of hand-reared examples I may describe the species in confinement as a particularly cunning, mischievous, and amusing bird ; in fact quite as interesting and worthy, of being kept as the Raven. Raven ( Corvus corax ) For many years a pair of these handsome, mischievous, and formidable Crows have been kept here. They are birds that are much admired for their quaint habits and sleek appearance, and seem excellently suited as to quarters when kept in an aviary 15 ft. by 30 ft. Sexual Differences. — The male differs from the female in voice, behaviour, and by being generally larger and coarser in build. Breeding. — This pair have nested and reared young annually for several seasons since 1904. Nest. — A huge pile of sticks placed in and upon a large shallow wicker basket (1 ft. deep by 3 ft. 6 in. across), which had previously been securely fixed upon a wooden platform or ledge at some feet from the ground, and beneath the overhanging eaves of their shed. Eggs. — Five to seven in number — small for the size of the bird, but similar to such clutches of wild Ravens’ eggs as I have had an oppor¬ tunity of examining. Nesting Habits , etc. — Breeding operations usually commence early in February by the pair carrying bits of stick, rubbish, etc., and as soon as this is observed, or a week or two later, should the weather be severe, their basket is fixed in position and an armful or two of rough sticks (chiefly dead beech) strewn upon the floor. Almost before one is out of the aviary both birds are busy and the foundation of the nest begun. They continue building steadily for some days (the female being the chief architect), until the framework is complete, after which sticks are declined and the birds look for and are supplied 120 A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS with dead turf fibre, grass, rootlets, etc. On these items being discarded, too, the nest is ready for the final lining for which purpose nothing appears more suitable than short horse or cow’s hair (clippings), failing which the birds will readily supply themselves with material from a few rabbits’ skins. Incubation. — This is accomplished by the female only, and lasts from twenty to twenty- three days. The young immediately on hatching can be heard in the nest. These for the first few days are attended to by the female, who is most careful to give only tiny fragments of food which she tears up with the bill and delivers from the pouch. Up to this stage I have observed the male occasionally feed the hen only, but as the young become older both parents take their share, when coarser (larger) fragments of food are pulled up, and usually moistened or washed before being given to the young. The latter remain in the nest until about a month old, at which age they begin to clamber about the sides, but do not cease to return into the nest at night or venture to the ground until some time later. (One brood I have a note of took their first flight and finally left the nest on the thirty-fifth day ; another on the forty- third.) Food. — Such young Ravens as have been bred here have been reared entirely upon animal food. (These have never exceeded five in a brood, as sometimes an egg or two is removed to prevent the young being too numerous.) They do very well for the first few days upon freshly killed young wild rabbit, etc., but as they develop a more nourishing diet (coarser animal food of any kind) appears necessary. Regarding a food supply for the adults, we give chiefly big rats, damaged wild rabbit, with an occasional sheep’s head ; nothing, however, in the shape of animal food comes amiss, and I have known a pair spend a happy week-end with a dead cat. Bathing. — Reference has been made to the bathing propensities of the Grows, but without doubt no member of the family that I am acquainted with bathes so frequently or enjoys a bath more thoroughly than the Raven. Also that the first thing that a brood of young Ravens do on leaving the nest (their first descent to the ground) is invariably to indulge in a good splash. Colour of Raven chick at six hours old : flesh colour, claws and extremity of bill whitish. Down smokey, arranged in tufts as follows : a chain or ridge down the back, upon the hind part of upper wing, a tuft behind each thigh, and a patch of shorter down at back of head and above each eye. Gape, pinkish red. Note : a frequently repeated squeaky chirrup. The above particulars taken from two chicks, 12th April, 1918. White-backed Piping Crow ( Gymnorhina leuconota) For about three years two examples of this fine Australian species were kept here. It is a bird about the size of a Rook, conspicuously NOTES 1 2 1 dressed in black and white, of handsome appearance generally, but whose chief attraction lies in its peculiar prolonged and musical bell or organ-like notes. Hardiness . — I would recommend the species being slept under cover during the colder months. These examples, however, being kept in a large aviary declined to use a shed, and being thoroughly established, roosted without ill effect the year round in a sheltered pine tree. Food. — Sharing an aviary with various Herons, etc., these Piping Crows had access to their food and thrived almost entirely upon meat. * * * NOTES Royal Zoological Society of South Australia. The following extract is taken from 2j>o News, July-August, 1945, issued by the Royal Zoological Society of South Australia, in continuation of the extract made in the January-February, 1946, number of the Avicultural Magazine : — ; In our last Z 00 News reference was made to characteristic movements and per¬ formances of various animals, pointing out that this applied more to birds than mammals. These were divided into three classes : — 1. Purely utilitarian (already discussed). 2. Display (usually made by the male to the female in the breeding season and chiefly among birds). 3. Of obscure significance. In the first section, there are, perhaps, not many points calling for special note, but a very interesting one was discussed in our last issue. We will now pass on to section 2. Everyone is familiar with the glorious display made by the male Peafowl in the nesting season. This so-called “ tail ” of the Peacock is not the true tail, but highly developed tail covert feathers. When erected, they are supported by the shorter true tail. The male moults his long train soon after Christmas, in the southern hemisphere, and immediately commences growing the new one. This attains full splendour by about the middle of September, and from then on to Christmas the birds are seen displaying. This, of course, is done for the benefit of the female, but the male bird is not above displaying to a duck or fowl or even to nothing at all, if the spirit moves him. Nature has indeed been prodigal with its adornments of the Peacock, but it has also endowed the bird with the instincts necessary to show it off to the best advantage. While the feathers are erect, they are periodically vibrated, but this does not visibly enhance their appearance, and we are left to guess what the function might be. Surely, the male Peafowl must be the most beautiful bird in the world ! But here we are on highly controversial ground. Comparable to the display of the Peafowl are the various performances of the different species of Pheasants. Some, such as the Peacock Pheasant and the Argus, will spread their tail in a manner somewhat similar to the Peacock, but the Argus adds to his display by a peculiar accompaniment. This is a vigorous stamping of his feet on the ground. Anyone seeing the performance for the first time would be justified in thinking the bird was having some sort of fit. The Argus is not a highly coloured bird but in full plumage he is a magnificent sight, measuring upwards of five feet in overall length. Although perhaps not related to display, in the nesting season, the Argus has a very characteristic call. This is a long series of notes of varying pitch, 122 NOTES but always to a set pattern. It is a very penetrating sound and persons residing two miles from the Zoo can often hear it in the stillness of the night. Two other beautiful Pheasants are the Golden and Lady Amherst. Closely related and of like build, their feather patterns are somewhat similar but of different colora¬ tion. The male of each species displays in an identical manner. This consists of running a few steps round the hen, then stopping, spreading the “ cape ” and tail feathers, but only on the side next to hen and at the same time making a short hissing noise. This performance goes on ad infinitum , till the hen must become heartily sick of it all. With Peafowl and all the Pheasants, the hen, by her behaviour, seems to be completely indifferent to the display made by the cock bird, and it is a matter for speculation as to just what function the display serves. However, as instinct urges the male to make the display, it would seem that the hen must notice it, and be capable of judging its excellence or otherwise. In this way she is guided to select the best mate and thus anticipate Nature’s stern edict, “ Survival of the Fittest.” The Australian Mallee Fowl male indulges in a performance which can hardly be dignified by the word “ display ”. He bends his neck downwards till his head almost touches his breast, and in this position emits a low rather weak booming note. The handsome Bustard (Wild Turkey) makes a display somewhat suggestive of the domestic Turkey, which is a native of America. The male Bustard inflates a pendulous air sac, which hangs from his breast, until it almost touches the ground and periodically snaps his bill shut, which act is followed by a prolonged hiss. At the same time the tail is held erect. Another Australian bird, the Brush Turkey, does not deliberately display any of his physical charms although, in the breeding season, the naked skin round his neck develops into loose folds and becomes highly coloured. As the reader is doubtless aware, this bird constructs a nesting mound of leaves and sticks, the decomposition of which creates the necessary warmth for incubation of the eggs which the hen has deposited. Only the cock bird constructs the mound and it is on this that he is seen to indulge in an apparently inconsequental act. He will frequently pick up a stick in his bill and drop it again. It obviously is not done with a view to rearranging the nesting mound, as this is built by the vigorous backward kicks of the bird when raking in the necessary material, and finer detail is not studied to the extent of arranging sticks with the bill. It is mentioned here, however, as it occurs only in the breeding season and on the nesting mound. For some years the Zoo was fortunate in having a pair of Lesser Birds of Paradise and on rare occasions the male was seen to display to the female. This was a lengthy process, involving extraordinary antics and culminating in the bird hanging up-side- down with its fine display plumes fluffed out and a fluttering of the wings. Other Birds of Paradise have different ways of displaying, but from all accounts they must present a wonderful spectacle. There are, of course, many more species of birds that display in the nesting season, but descriptions given must suffice for illustrations of this interesting topic. Jubilee of the New York Zoological Society On 8th January, 1946, the New York Zoological Society celebrated its Golden Anniversary with a memorable meeting and this has been followed by a no less memorable Jubilee number of Animal Kingdom, the journal of the Society. Profusely illustrated with no less than eight beautiful colour plates, a large number of excellent photographs, and with articles of outstanding interest and merit, this number is certainly a worthy record of the achievements of a great society. The cover itself is fascinating and consists of an old map of the Zoological Park (1911). Among the contributors are Fairfield Osborn, William Beebe, William Bridges, and Lee S. Crandall. A particular interesting article by Donald T. Carlisle entitled “ This is the way we began ” has among the illustrations a photograph of the opening ceremony of the Zoological Park to the public in 1899 and a reproduction of the souvenir programme. “ Roads to Research,” an illuminating account by Leonard Goss, shows the great progress made by the Society in its medical department. Erratum In March-April number 1946 page 66, Blackheaded Sibia for Icioptilia read Leioptila . CANDIDATES FOR ELECTION Mrs. Buckland, 195 Portway, Iver Heath, Bucks. Proposed by H. Buckland. D. B. Bush, 23 Chapel Street, Rockdale, N.S.W., Australia. Proposed by E. Maud Knobel. J. D. Hutchinson, Kinloch, Collessie, Fife. Proposed by E. Maud Knobel. Mrs. Susan Mary Knight, The Homestead, Park Road, Camberley, Surrey. Proposed by Phyllis Barclay-Smith. D. Marshall, 2 Fullerton Crescent, Troon, Ayrshire. Proposed by E. Maud Knobel. Gordon W. Myers, 3824 31st Street, Mt. Rainier, Maryland, U.S.A. Proposed by Phyllis Barclay-Smith. Mrs. Imogen Wilcox, Staplemead House, Frome, Somerset. Proposed by F. Dallow. NEW MEMBERS Mrs. M. M. Bennett, 24 Rectory Gardens, Worthing, Sussex. Norman Brown, i Brebner Road, Blomfontein, O.F.S., South Africa. Charles L. Copeland, 74 Hundreds Road, Wellesley Hills, Mass., U.S.A. R. T. Crofts, 85 Reeves Avenue, Cross Heath, Newcastle, Staffs. C. F. Harding, Winida^ 192 Hounslow Road, Feltham, Mddx. W. R. Kern, P.O. Box 848, 609 South Russell Avenue, Monterey Park, Calif., U.S.A. Mrs. J. A. Prestwich, Coltishall, Broad Walk, N. 2 1 . Mrs. M. K. C. Ricardo, Audreys, Burghfield Common, Reading. D. P. Robinson, 12 Dalmeny Road, Wallington, Surrey. Percy Rossiter, Compania Petrolera Lobitos, Via Talara, Peru. Miss Peggy Scott, Blissford Pool, Fordingbridge. William G. Tinsley, The Poplars, Holbeach St. Marks, Lines. CHANGE OF ADDRESS Leonard C. Webber, to 6 Grand Avenue Parade, Epping, N.S.W., Australia. Guy Falkner, c/o Major F. Sprott, Cooper’s Hill, N’Gong, Kenya Colony. DONATIONS £ S. d. £ s. d. Geo. Weaver 10 o C. L. Sibley 500 Sydney Porter i o o F. Shaw Mayer 200 MEMBERS’ ADVERTISEMENTS The charge for Members’ advertisements is one penny per word. Payment must accompany the advertisement , which must be sent on or before the 20th of the month , to Miss E. Maud Knobel, 86 Regent’s Park Road, N. W. i . All members of the Society are entitled to use this column, but the Council reserves the right to refuse any advertisements they consider unsuitable. Mrs. Tyser, of Gordonbush, Brora, Sutherland (and late of Dudbrook, Brentwood), regretfully wishes it to be known that she no longer keeps birds of any kind for sale. WANTED Wanted good .22 rifle, with telescopic sight if possible. Cash or exchange best quality heavy gauge pre-war wire netting, f in., J in., § in., and 1 in. mesh. — Scott, Blissford, Fordingbridge, Hants. Wanted adult hen cockatiel ready to breed. — Masser, The Spinney, Coundon, Coventry. FOR SALE Super carpenter-built, very neat, warm, and cosy bolted aviary 18 by 18 feet, divided into three. Shed 6 by 6 feet, lined ; also double glass and double-lined doors. Glass verandah and glass fitted mesh sides. Easily enlarged. Canadian wood- tiled roof. Nest-boxes, grandfather clock nest fittings. Suitable any birds or beasts, £185. — Hon. Mary Hawke, Oakfield, The Lane, Partridge Green, Sussex. Tel. 103. Coloured plates suitable for framing. Surplus copies of coloured plates that have appeared in the Avicultural Magazine, the property of the Avicultural Society. Kea, Pesquet’s Parrot, Ruffed Lory, Raja Lory, Duyvenbode’s Lory, Derbyan Parrakeet, Racket-tailed Parrot, Aru Island Parrot, Red-breasted Parrot, Turquoisine Parrakeet, Bourke’s Grass Parrakeet, Polytetis group, Agapornis group. Budgerigars. Price is. each, postage 3 d. extra. — A. A. Prestwich, Chelmsford Road, Southgate, London, N. 14. Bird Cages to dispose of ; good condition. Length 28 in., Width 12 in., Height 20 in. ; L. 19 in., W. 10 in., H. 19 in. ; L. nin., W. 9 m., H. 15 m. Oak Parrot travelling cage, L. 14! in., W. 10 in., H. i4Jin. What offers. — Nicol, 18 Christ¬ church Hill, Hampstead, N.W. 3. Absolutely Indispensable to Aviculturists . . “ AVICULTURE,” Vol. I, £1 Os. 9 d. ( Vols . II and III out of print.) A mine of information on birds of all kinds, compiled by leading authorities on every branch of aviculture. “ Index Guide to the Avicultural Magazine, 1894-1930:’ By E. H. 55. Cloth Boards. To be obtained from: MESSRS. STEPHEN AUSTIN & SONS, LTD., 1 FORE STREET, HERTFORD, HERTS. For back numbers of the Avicultural Magazine apply also to the Publishers at the above address. The originals of the plates published in the Avicultural Magazine may be, in most cases, purchased ; apply to the Secretary : MISS KNOBEL, 86 REGENT’S PARK ROAD, LONDON, N.W.l. STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, HERTFORD. AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE CONTENTS PAGE The Jewel Room in the New York Zoo {with plate), by J. Delacour . . 123 The Inheritance of Head Colour in the Gouldian Finch, by H. N. Southern 126 Further Notes on the Breeding of Gouldian Finches, by P. W. Teague . 132 Sand-Martins in Captivity, by A. H. Scott . . . . . . 135 The Ceylon Magpie, by W. C. Osman Hill ...... 141 Parrakeet Breeding Results in Adelaide for 1945, by A. Lendon . . . 144 Ten Years with the Painted Finch and some Historical Notes, by L. C. Webber 149 The Society’s Medal, by A. A. Prestwich . . . . . 1 59 Review ............ 164 Notes ............. 165 Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . .166 VOL. 52 No. 4 PRICE 51- dULY-AUGUST 1946 THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY Founded i8g4 President : A. EZRA, Esq., O.B.E. MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION is £i per annum, due on ist January each year, and payable in advance. Life Membership, £15. Subscriptions, Changes of Address, Names of Candidates for Membership, etc., should be sent to— The Honorary Secretary and Treasurer , MISS E. MAUD KNOBEL, 86 Regent’s Park Road, London, N.W.i. Tel.: Primrose 0247. THE AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE is published bi-monthly and sent free to members. Members joining at any time during the year are entided to back numbers for the current year, on the payment of subscription. ALL MATTER FOR PUBLICATION IN THE MAGAZINE SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO— The Editor , MISS PHYLLIS BARCLAY-SMITH, F.Z.S., 51 Warwick Avenue, Tel. : Cunningham 3006. London, W. 9. The price of the Magazine to non-members is 55. post free per copy, or £1 10$. for the year. Orders for the Magazine, extra copies, and back numbers (from 1917) should be sent to the publishers, Messrs. Stephen Austin & Sons, 1 Fore Street, Hertford. Tel. : Hertford 2546-8. POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE Avic. Mag. 1946. New York Zoological Society Copyright ] Rothschild’s Starling in “ Jewel Room ” of the New York Zoo Avicultural Magazine THE JOURNAL OF THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY Vol. 52. — No. 4.— All rights reserved. JULY-AUGUST, 1946 THE JEWEL ROOM IN THE NEW YORK ZOO By J. Delacour The problem of exhibiting cage birds in public zoos is a difficult one. Until recently it has been tackled rather crudely. Too often just rows of wire cages are lined up on shelves. In the better cases fixed compartments have been neatly built. But practically never before has it been attempted to show the birds under the best possible conditions of light, which enables one to detect all the usually elusive metallic colours and delicate hues ; nor, at the same time, to set them in an artistic frame. For many years I had planned to build a special hall, the walls of which would have had glass openings, giving view to birds and fishes. Cages and aquariums would have been decorated and planted. The effect would have been that of so many animated, living pictures. They would be set up in a wide corridor encircling the hall, where all facilities would be provided for cleaning and for the care of the creatures. The centuries-old rooms of Gleres, with all their historic interest, did not allow for such a scheme. But I had hoped to build a special house some day in a secluded corner of the park. Fate has decided otherwise . . . However, I had a chance to achieve at the New York Zoo for the public what I once had dreamed to do at home for my own satisfaction. The result has been what we call the “ Jewel Room ”. The Bird House in New York consists of three halls, the largest of which has not been much altered these last years. We have only redecorated the big central flight and some of the compartments. The second room has been completely changed in 1942. The numerous cages and small compartments for Parrots and Doves have been removed, and five roomy flights have replaced them. They are decorated and planted so that they now form the “ New England Garden ”, for native species ; “ Arid Plain ”, for desert birds ; “ Indo- Malayan Jungle,” for Asiatic species ; “ Tropical American Jungle Stream ” and “ Tropical American Rain Forest ”. 10 124 J* DELACOUR - THE JEWEL ROOM IN THE NEW YORK ZOO The third hall was particularly unattractive in its former state : a large room, 60 ft. by 30 ft., with an ugly glass roof and plainly built compartments all around, each containing a number of small or medium-sized birds. They were badly lit, and none of the beautiful colours or metallic reflections of the inmates could be seen at real advantage. It was the more unfortunate that it always housed a wonderful collection. This hall has been entirely renovated during the winter of 1945, and it was reopened as the “Jewel Room” a little more than a year ago. The transformation has been comparatively simple and easy — a smaller room has been built inside the hall, entirely dark but for the light which comes through the glass front of the cages that open in the walls ; it all looks like a gallery of live bird pictures, as in my original plan. Also it reminds one of modern techniques used in aquarium and terrarium. The hall has two large double doors, one at the end of the western wall, the other one occupying most of the smaller southern panel. As a result the cages form two groups, one occupying the greatest part of the western wall, the other L-shaped, all along the northern and eastern sides. Those of the first group, ten in number and of three different sizes, are dedicated to Humming Birds. The others consist of one large (10 ft. by 11 ft.) unplanted but nicely decorated aviary mostly for hardbills, of two fair-sized planted compartments (51 ft. by 5 ft.) and seven smaller ones (3J ft. by 3 ft.). They are at present occupied by a Fairy Bluebird, a Rothschild’s Starling, a Cock-of-the-Rock, and a number of Manakins, Sugar-birds, and Small Tanagers, which are doing exceptionally well in such quarters. They will be ideal for Sunbirds, the smaller Birds of Paradise, such as Kings, Superbs, and Wilson’s, when they are again available. The large hardbills’ aviary and the two adjoining smaller cages are painted a gay light yellow inside. All the others are pale greyish blue. I am against backgrounds with painted landscapes or other scenes, as they are too difficult to keep clean. The cages are strongly and appropriately lit by natural light from the glass roof, and also from heatless electric tubes disposed at a favourable angle inside the cages, at the top of the corner in front, quite invisible to the public. The metallic reflections of the plumage are thus seen at their best. Troughs are inserted through the bottom, along the back of the floor, and filled with tropical plants and flowers. It looks like Gould’s plates, but it is alive. The public room, on the other hand, is absolutely plain, painted a dark neutral grey, so that the visitor’s attention is not distracted from the exhibits. We found that in order to give the proper illusion of adequate space, cages must be very deep (deeper than wide) and that the back must always be rounded, angles looking very ugly. Proper ventilation is essential ; and to ensure this holes have to be J. DELACOUR - THE JEWEL ROOM IN THE NEW YORK ZOO 1 25 pierced at the lower part of the cage, while the top is partly covered with small mesh wire netting, as used against flies and mosquitoes. Rather complicated devices had to be conceived for the proper working of the cages. Mr. Lee Crandall, the General Curator and one of the most experienced aviculturists I have known, has invented most of them, with the help of the Head Keeper, G. Scott. For the cleaning of the Humming Birds’ compartments, we place on the top a bottomless movable cage. A large trap in the top of the compart¬ ment slides outwards so that the Hummer can easily fly up into the movable cage and be confined there while the compartment is cleaned through the whole back side of the compartment, which can be opened. After cleaning the Hummer is easily induced to fly down and re-enter its proper quarters. The larger cages are cleaned through back doors, without shifting the birds, but the keeper operates by placing himself inside movable panels, which constitute a portable cage. If a bird escapes, it cannot go far, and it returns almost immediately to its compartment. Birds behind glass cannot be heard, which is a pity, at the least for the largest number of them. We have remedied that by conducting the sound from the cages to the public hall by special devices. There is ample room at the back for spare cages and all sorts of feeding and cleaning facilities. The “Jewel Room ” has proved a great success. It is, we think, an excellent show, and the birds are doing exceedingly well in it. The good effect obtained in the planted cages of the Jewel Room, as in other sorts of aviaries, depends entirely on two essential conditions : keeping the cages and the plants themselves meticulously clean, and also a wise choice of the birds inhabiting them. Species harmless to the kind of vegetation among which they are meant to live can only be placed there. Experience helps considerably of course, but without it, the only thing to do is to try to watch, and to remove, the offenders as soon as they are caught damaging the plants. 126 H. N. SOUTHERN - INHERITANCE OF HEAD COLOUR IN GOULDIAN FINCH THE INHERITANCE OF HEAD COLOUR IN THE GOULDIAN FINCH (Posphila gouldia Gould) By H. N. Southern This section is primarily intended for aviculturalists, who wish for some fairly simple rules to guide them in breeding to produce the red or black-headed forms of the Gouldian Finch. The whole subject, including the significance of the proportions between black and red found in nature, has been treated in more detail in the Journal of Genetics (1945, pp. 51-7)- The conclusions which are presented here have been based on records of crosses found in the literature and upon a special series of breeding experiments carried out by Mr. P. W. Teague. Great credit is due to him for his skill and persistence, for with wartime food he had great difficulties in rearing young birds up to the stage when the colour of the face mask is ascertainable. His results, however, prove the mode of inheritance of the head colour beyond any reasonable doubt. In studying the inheritance of characters of this kind, it is important to bear in mind the particulate nature of the processes involved. The writer may perhaps be pardoned for recapitulating the basic facts, with which most readers will be already familiar. The hereditary factors which transmit characters from generation to generation are born upon minute bodies present in the nucleus of each cell called chromosomes. Each species of animal has a characteristic set of chromosomes (specific in number, shape, etc.). In each of the ordinary body cells there are two sets of these chromo¬ somes, and since the hereditary factors controlling this or that character are situated on the chromosomes, it follows that each separate factor will be represented twice in any body cell. Thus in the classical case of Mendel’s peas : in those with white flowers the factors controlling colour are white-producing in both cases : similarly in red-flowered plants. Obviously, however, in crossing it is possible to have a plant in which the two sites for colour on the chromosome pair involved have one a white-producing and one a red-producing factor. The result is actually a pink flower, but perhaps the more usual arrangement is for one colour to dominate the other, so that the colour produced in a plant which has factors for different colours is not a mixture but either the one or the other. Thus in the Gouldian Finch the hereditary factor for red-headedness is dominant to that for black-headedness, and so a “ mixed ” bird will appear to be pure red and its mixed nature can only be checked by breeding. Let us now substitute some simple symbols and work out what will H. N. SOUTHERN - INHERITANCE OF HEAD COLOUR IN GOULDIAN FINCH 127 happen when a cross is made. Let R = a head colour factor which produces a red mask and r = one which produces black. The use of the same letter may seem confusing at first, but it is a useful device for representing the relation between the two factors and quickly becomes familiar in use. Since each body cell has a pair of each chromosome, there will be two colour factors present and these may be assorted in three ways, RR, Rr, or rr. Birds with the first two constitutions will be red-headed and birds with the third black¬ headed. Let us take two parent birds, mate them, and write them down thus : — Parents RR (- SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1946 THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY Founded 1894 President : A. EZRA, Esq,., O.B.E. MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION is £i per annum, due on ist January each year, and payable in advance. Life Membership, £15. Subscriptions, Changes of Address, Names of Candidates for Membership, etc., should be sent to — The Honorary Secretary and Treasurer , Tel.: Primrose 0247. MISS E. MAUD KNOBEL, 86 Regent’s Park Road, London, N.W.i. THE AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE is published bi-monthly and sent free to members. Members joining at any time during the year are entitled to back numbers for the current year, on the payment of subscription. ALL MATTER FOR PUBLICATION IN THE MAGAZINE SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO— The Editor , MISS PHYLLIS BARCLAY-SMITH, F.Z.S., 51 Warwick Avenue, Tel. : Cunningham 3006. London, W. 9. The price of the Magazine to non-members is 5$. post free per copy, or £1 iojt. for the year. Orders for the Magazine, extra copies, and back numbers (from 1917) should be sent to the publishers, Messrs. Stephen Austin & Sons, 1 Fore Street, Hertford. Tel. : Hertford 2546-8. POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE Avic. Mag. 1946. Baikal Teal and Mandarin Duck. Frontispiece ] AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE THE JOURNAL OF THE AVIGULTURAL SOCIETY Vol. 52. — No. 5. — All rights reserved. SEPT.-OCTOBER, 1946 A WATERFOWL REGISTRY AND CENSUS By Peter Scott The Aviculturalist and the Field Ornithologist have many objectives in common. They have not only a scientific but a cultural and an aesthetic contribution to make to our civilization, and it is important that they should work hand in hand towards these ends. But there is at present a point of conflict, for the Field Ornithologist complains with some justification that when he sees a rare bird, and particularly a rare waterfowl, he has no way of knowing whether it has escaped from some collection or whether it has in fact made a journey of perhaps thousands of miles from a far away land. And while there may be no vastly important scientific significance in the occasional occurrence of a rare vagrant, no ornithologist can fail to enjoy the romantic thrill of watching a bird which has only been seen perhaps a few dozen times before in our country. Such a pleasure has fallen to my lot twice during the last year. In July I was walking through the “ duckery ” of Mr. Spedan Lewis’s estate in the Test Valley at Leckford with my friend Terry Jones, when we suddenly saw an Alpine Swift amongst 50 or 60 Common Swifts hawking up and down the river. For half an hour we watched this beautiful bird — much larger than a Common Swift and with a conspicuous white belly — a bird which has only been recorded some 30 times in England. Last winter, on the estuary of the Severn, amongst the great flocks of Whitefronted Geese, we found two Lesser Whitefronted Geese, the third and fourth examples of this species to be positively identified in this country. A limited number of inquiries were sufficient to establish the overwhelming probability that these birds were wild, visitors just as the Alpine Swift must certainly have been. There was considerably greater doubt, however, about the origin of two (or possibly three) Blue Snow Geese which were seen amongst the Greylags and Whitefronts on the Wexford Slob last winter. A 13 1 68 PETER SCOTT - A WATERFOWL REGISTRY AND CENSUS number of breeding Blue Snows are kept in captivity and some at least of their offspring have been allowed to go full winged, and are known to have wandered away. On the other hand, the Blue Goose breeds in the Hudson’s Bay region, and winters on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, at the eastern side of the range of its very near relative, the Lesser Snow Goose, with which it usually keeps company, and even hybridizes in the wild state. Most of the records of Lesser Snow in this country can be traced to the full winged breeding flock kept at Woburn, but there is one record — the first — which is earlier than the Woburn flock. It is a record of three shot in 1871 on the Wexford Slob. The skins leave no doubt that these were Lesser rather than Greater Snow Geese, and if three Lesser Snows in 1871 why not three Blues in 1946. The likelihood of escape, however, has this time effectively prevented the possible addition of a new bird not only to the British but to the European list. Clearly this is a pity and suggests that, without any very great effort, aviculturalists might, at least to a large extent, remedy these circumstances and remove the grounds for the field ornithologists’ complaint. This could, I believe, be done by establishing a registry, by means of which aviculturalists could make known what birds they were keeping full winged and which, if any, had wandered away. The scope of the registry might well be widened so as to be of great benefit to the aviculturalist himself. It would, for example, be both interesting and useful to know what species and numbers of birds are being kept in this country, what birds have been bred, what birds in each collection are available for sale or exchange. Never has this requirement been more urgent that it is to-day when only the remnants of so many fine pre-war collections remain and when so many people are awaiting the opportunity to start again (or even to start for the first time) the fascinating pursuit of keeping ornamental waterfowl. Practically nothing remains of my own pre-war collection which I kept at my lighthouse on The Wash ; but already my plans are well advanced for starting a new collection in a new and ideal place. On the estuary of the Severn, where we identified the Lesser White- fronts last year, several thousand Whitefronted Geese have spent each winter from immemorial times. They roost far out on the sandbanks at the tail of the river and they feed on the green saltings and grass fields of an area known as the New Grounds, which is flat, alluvial land reclaimed from the estuary. On this same stretch, many thousands of ducks also spend the winter, and two ancient duck-decoys lie sheltered, each in its own spinney of trees amongst the flat green fields. Beside one of these decoys is the cottage which will be the centre of a scheme for a Wildfowl Observatory. Not only will the facilities for PETER SCOTT - A WATERFOWL REGISTRY AND CENSUS 1 69 observing and studying the wild geese be improved, but also the decoy will be put into working order as a ringing station and a new collection of waterfowl will be established in the surrounding marshes, which are ideal for keeping geese (and geese will be the backbone of the collection in order to provide material for my monograph of the Wild geese which is now in preparation). Although at present there is no very large sheet of open water, most of the fifty acres of the proposed new enclosure are liable to flood in winter and can be artificially flooded at all times of the year, from a virtually inexhaustible supply. Conditions will be better for surface feeding than for diving ducks, but some of the ditches should be deep enough for the latter and the spinney round the decoy will be ideal for less hardy species such as Tree ducks. Altogether the new observatory should make a pleasant and instructive local amenity, which may broaden the general interest in the subject of waterfowl. In developing the scheme, the proposed registry would be of enormous assistance. From it we should find out what birds are left in this country. We should find no doubt that some of the species which were fairly common before the war are no longer represented. We should find that some rarer birds have chanced to breed (like the Puna Teal at Leckford) and are now commoner than many of the familiar old favourites. We should find — and this is most important— a number of unmated birds, odd males, odd females, which if put together might perpetuate a breeding stock of the species, a stock which would otherwise die out and have to be re-imported, with years of delay while the wild-caught birds were persuaded to breed. How many breeding pairs of Maned Geese are left in this country to-day — (I know that there are several odd unmated birds). How many Orinocos ? — How many Versicolors ? How many Tree ducks? The answers to these questions are important to British aviculture. Initially it may be difficult to trace all the smaller collections where only a few birds are kept, particularly as many of their owners are not members of the Society, but at worst we should know a great deal more than we do at present about the status of our birds in captivity. It may be said that some aviculturalists will not wish to divulge the exact statistics of their collections, but I believe none the less that there are very few who would not, in the interests of aviculture, agree to co-operate in the scheme. The Editor has consented to undertake the work of co-ordination, and those who wish can put the scheme into immediate operation by sending in answers to the following questions : 1 . What species of waterfowl, other than Mallard and domestic varieties, do you keep, and how many of each ? I 70 DILLON RIPLEY - WATERFOWL COLLECTIONS IN N.-E. UNITED STATES 2. Which of them are hand reared and which wild caught ? 3. Do you wish to acquire or part with any by sale or exchange. 4. Do you keep any full winged waterfowl, other than Mallard, which are free to go away ? 5. If so, have any gone away within the last year ? 6. Can you give us the names and addresses of anyone you know who keeps waterfowl and to whom a copy of this questionnaire should be sent ? There is a further way in which the confusion about stray birds might be avoided. If aviculturalists could obtain suitable rings of the same type as (but distinct from) those used in the marking scheme, and make every attempt to ring their full winged birds, not only would the ring very probably be visible to the observer who chanced to see the bird after it had strayed, but should the bird be caught in a decoy or shot, the fact would be recorded and the aviculturalist informed, which might well be of personal interest. Any further suggestions for improving the schemes for a waterfowl registry and census and for marking full winged birds will be most welcome. With full co-operation from all those who keep these beautiful birds, I believe that by this means we can build up our waterfowl resources in a very much shorter time than seems other¬ wise possible. * * * WATERFOWL COLLECTIONS IN THE NORTH¬ EASTERN UNITED STATES By Dillon Ripley The keeping of waterfowl and their successful rearing has been a rare hobby in the north-eastern United States. Now with the end of the war there has been a considerable awakening of interest in anatine aviculture, and several new collections have appeared. The eastern part of the United States has always lagged far behind the west, but one or two good new collections have been developed in New England which bid fair to replace in importance the collection of Mr. C. L. Sibley, which was broken up during the war. Mr. Charles L. Copeland, of Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, a new member of the Avicultural Society, has been keeping waterfowl for only six years, but he has already had several spectacular successes. His collection until this summer has been kept literally in his back¬ yard. His charming house had a rather limited area of ground behind, DILLON RIPLEY - WATERFOWL COLLECTIONS IN N.-E. UNITED STATES I 7 1 and that rocky and full of scrub and second growth. Nothing daunted, however, Mr. Copeland cleared the scrub and built a pen about 75 by 150 feet on a level spot, and in it placed a concrete pool, connected to his tap water supply by a series of smaller pools and channels at different levels. The ground is covered with small pebbles, and there are quite a number of low bushes, laurel and azaleas. Neighbours’ houses are all about and people seem to be in evidence a good deal. In spite of this unfavourable-sounding environment, Mr. Copeland has had notable success rearing such “ difficult ” species as Ruddy Ducks and Golden-eyes. Keeping such a small pool clean would seem to be a problem, but Mr. Copeland tells me that he drains it fairly often, and in between times drops in 50 lb. or more of epsom salts ! This apparently has a salutary effect on his birds, and they are in as sleek, good condition as waterfowl I have seen anywhere. Comparing diet schedules is always interesting to the aviculturist, and a brief note on what Mr. Copeland feeds his birds may be of interest here. Four days a week the birds are given grains, one day a week they are starved, and the remaining two are divided between a day of a chopped lettuce diet, and a day of ground horse meat. I was surprised at the fact that virtually all his birds, not just the diving tribe, will eat the latter. This year Mr. Copeland has reared his first American Eider (from wild-caught eggs), Buffleheads, Golden-eyes, Ruddy Duck, and Wood Duck. Mr. Copeland has just bought a large estate in Wellesley a few miles from his former home, and plans to build a good-sized natural pond there. In many ways, of course, this will be an advantage, but under his present conditions, his birds have become wonderfully tame, and I doubt if they will remain so on a large pond. To sit on a bench in his small pond and watch his little flock of Golden-eyes going through their full display within 10 feet, is to be privileged indeed. Mr. John W. Livermore is another keeper of waterfowl whose collection has really developed during the war years, although he has kept birds of other kinds for a long time. He has recently made a new enclosure of several acres of mixed woods, scrub, and open land planted to alfalfa. Where a small spring drains down into his valley, Mr. Livermore has constructed a pond with concrete walls cleverly camouflaged with earthen dykes. This provides him with a pond about 50 yards by 100 yards square. An interesting problem was the bottom of the new pond which turned out to be porous enough to let the water out when it was filled. Rather than put concrete down, Mr. Livermore put in an asphalt bottom, which will gradually be covered with silt, and thus concealed. Mr. Livermore lives in Redding, Connecticut, which is subject to considerable frost during the winter, but so far he has managed very I 72 DILLON RIPLEY - WATERFOWL COLLECTIONS IN N.-E. UNITED STATES well with his birds in cold weather, as he has one or two heated houses for the more tender species. His collection at the present time numbers several hundred birds with about forty-three forms of the Anseriformes , of which twenty are geese, including four races of the Canada Goose family. Barnacles and Bar-heads laid this year, and Indian Spot-bill Mallards' among others. Undoubtedly his new large enclosure will foster considerable breeding activity next year, although he is still awaiting activity on the part of his seven-odd pairs of Cereopsis Geese. Two other collections in the eastern United States are those of Mr. Jack Deeter, near Springfield, Mass., who obtained a considerable amount of the Sibley collection, and the author. I have not heard so far what Mr. Deeter has succeeded in raising, nor do I know his place, but I believe he is an experienced aviculturist. My own place has suffered from considerable neglect during the war. The remains of my waterfowl collection were given to the New York Zoo for the duration. No birds bred this spring, due to the lateness of the season, when they were reinstated in my small pond. Only one American Eider female, a seven-year-old bird, remains of my former small flock. The rest of my birds are common or garden species, with the exception of a pair of the nice little Cackling Geese, the smallest of the Canada clan. I have a new pond enclosure with about two acres of water in it, and am hoping to establish a regular breeding stock of wild free-flying birds there in the Falloden tradition. A pair of wild Wood Duck bred on it this spring and a number of Black Duck feed there regularly. In March this spring, when I was on a trip to see the waterfowl refuges of Texas, my stock of captive duck received an unexpected addition. On a small salt-water pond near the mouth of the Rio Grande River I came on a single male Red-head Pochard feeding by the bank. He flew away after he saw me, but made the mistake of landing at the other end of the pond and hiding in the bushes. I caught him in jig time. He was fat and in good condition, and I cannot understand why he was not out on the open Laguna Madre with the 10,000 to 20,000 of his kind that winter there. I took him into the town where I was staying and left him with an animal dealer. He was placed in an old circus travelling cage for leopards, inhabited at the time by a pair of ring doves, one of which was so taken aback that it laid an egg on the spot. Leaving instructions for my Redhead to be sent to me by air express after I had reached Connecticut by motor in two weeks time, I left Texas with very little thought of ever seeing my bird again. However, two weeks later, my drake arrived none the worse for his captivity, and apparently completely recovered from the illness or inferiority complex or whatever it was that forced him out of his usual habitat that sunny March morning. Incidentally, JEAN MARIE DERSCHEID - THE EIDER DUCK IN CAPTIVITY 1 73 his enforced spring “ flight ” northward from Texas to Connecticut, a distance of about 1,800 miles, was accomplished in the record time of a day and a half ! * * * THE EIDER DUCK IN CAPTIVITY (, Somateria mollisimd) By Jean Marie Derscheid Translated and reprinted from Aviornis, Encyclopedie international de L’Elevage, No. 3, August, 1942, by permission of the Editor. (This article was written by the late Dr. Derscheid during his imprisonment in Brussels.) Though many people know the name of Eider Duck as being (at least in theory) the producer of the down which fills our eider-downs, few of them have ever had the opportunity to see, and admire, this bird, which is one of the largest and most beautiful of European ducks, alive. Wild Eiders, it is true, only visit our regions infrequently in the coldest winters in small numbers and they generally stay along the coast or on the banks- of Bas-Escaut. But I have always been astonished to note the complete absence of such an interesting and famous species in bird collections of the Zoological Gardens I have visited. The Eider is also conspicuous by its absence, apart from one or two exceptions, in private waterfowl collections. The reason must be the same in both cases ; that the method of keeping Eiders in good condition in captivity for any length of time is not well known or not sufficiently carefully carried out, and therefore I think it may be useful to describe the treatment which a number of Eiders have received at my rearing farm and which has in general kept them in excellent condition. Except in the regions where they are shot (which is rarely the case in Northern Europe), Eiders are birds which are confiding by nature and disposed to adapt themselves voluntarily to a state of semi¬ domesticity, or rather to live and nest regularly in the immediate proximity of men who content themselves by stealing the down from their nests and sometimes some of their eggs. Under such conditions the wild birds are emboldened to such an extent as to make their nests in specially prepared sites, in stables and even in the interior of buildings — it is so seen on a large scale in Iceland, where the exploita¬ tion of eider-down has been a flourishing local industry for hundreds 174 JEAN MARIE DERSGHEID - THE EIDER DUCK IN CAPTIVITY of years ; the colonies of Eiders established in certain Frisian and Danish islands and also in Scotland and Scandinavia are in a less marked degree other examples of the confiding disposition of Eider ducks to man. On account of this friendly temperament, it is not at all difficult to induce Eiders to resign themselves to live in captivity. Even the completely adult birds which we have received here almost immediately after their capture have proved themselves to be relatively tame and confiding within the space of only three or four days. As early as the day of arrival I easily made them take their own food (a very rare thing among the other sea ducks with the exception of the Long-tailed Ducks). We have often noticed that as they get older, the friendly and confiding dispositions of certain specimens are replaced by aggressiveness towards man ; one of the most beautiful Eider drakes which I have reared here became in 1940, at the age of 3 years, so bold that every day he attacked the aviary attendant, who went into his enclosure with his food, with strong pecks of his beak ; the artful and vicious bird spitefully persisted in pecking above the edge of the attendant’s high protective boots. The difficulty in the acclimatization of Eiders in collections is not a matter of psychology but a matter of physiology ; their shortness of life in captivity is due to the fact that they do not receive the necessary treatment. The observations made by several of my friends and myself on this subject have proved that these birds must have particular care in three respects ; the quality of the water in their pond , the system of habitual feeding , and their care during the moult. Essentially sea-birds, Eiders nevertheless can accustom themselves to live entirely in fresh water, but it is preferable that their pond should have running water, continuous even if slow, which assures the constant renewal of this water. It is no use to attempt to keep Eiders in good health on an enclosed pool, and generally speaking on any stagnant water, especially that which is too full of decaying vegetation. For this reason, ponds with the bottom covered with dead leaves or black slime, acid, and rich in methane are no good for them ; one can succeed on the contrary in keeping them perfectly in pools with muddy bottoms equally as well as in those of which the bottoms are of sand, gravel stones, or concrete. Clear water is obviously desirable but it is not a sine qua non for their maintenance in good health and Eiders live, for example, equally well in the muddy water of our ponds with clay bottoms as in the crystal-clear lakes where my friend Delacour has reared them with success for a number of years at Cleres (Normandy). To ensure the purity of the water in a pond it is essential, as a general rule, to avoid the fall of dead leaves, some of which (especially poplar and sycamore) decompose rapidly, and quickly pollute the water. It is useless to attempt to establish, for example, Eiders or JEAN MARIE DERSCHEID - THE EIDER DUCK IN CAPTIVITY I 75 other marine ducks on a pond, the borders of which are planted to a large extent with deciduous trees or shrubs ; evergreens such as conifers, rhododendrons, laurels, etc., do not present the same difficulty, they also drop their leaves, whatever is said to the contrary, but the fall is far less simultaneous and pollution of near-by water is hardly noticeable. The maintenance of the purity, or rather the clarity of the water is equally dependent on the state of the banks. It depends on the nature of the banks as to whether the birds can or cannot destroy them by their almost continual dabbling about on the edge. It is a good plan to pave the area of the bank immediately above and below the normal water-level with large pieces of irregular stone (if possible neatly cemented together) ; this method (which we have adopted in several of our ponds of sea-duck) is pre-eminently suitable for ponds on clayey soil and of relatively small size. For large ponds and lakes the method of strengthening the banks adopted at Cleres is very satisfactory, in addition to being more economical. It consists of covering the bank at a width of a metre (half below and half above the water) with strips of turf on which is applied a piece of wire netting with a small mesh (.11-15 mm.) firmly fixed in place by hooks in the shape of hair-pins buried in the soil. The wire netting, which prevents the undermining of the banks by the ducks and the falling in of parts of the earth in bad weather is soon entirely hidden from view by the grass which grows through the mesh. The filtering of the water flowing into the pond is excellent in theory for it keeps it limpid ; this method, however, is difficult to realize in practice anywhere where filtering is made necessary by the influx of extraneous matter floating in the water ; in this case the filter, what¬ ever it may be, is soon choked up or dirty and does not remain efficacious without frequent and thorough cleaning. The kind of food suitable for Eiders is perhaps the most important point in their care. As in many other cases, the chief difficulty arises from the fact that the aviculturist (or his aviary attendant) does not readily admit that what the birds eat with pleasure and even with avidity is not necessarily what suits it best. As far as Eiders are con¬ cerned, I must confess that it took many years and a good deal of mortification to convince me that the principal fundamental of their diet was to prevent Eiders, Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, Harlequins, in a word the true sea-ducks, from any access to whole or crushed grains or to bran, and to take care not to mix them with fresh-water ducks for which corn, buckwheat, dari, and maize are the normal food. The sea-ducks in the wild state feed almost exclusively on animal food such as molluscs, Crustacea, worms, and little fish. A good deal of this animal food can be replaced in captivity by food less rich (notably farinaceous food and albuminous vegetables), 176 JEAN MARIE DERSCHEID - THE EIDER DUCK IN CAPTIVITY but it is essential that in the mixture 20 to 30% of the whole food should consist of ingredients such as good quality meat meal, fish meal, dried shrimps, raw fish cut into small pieces, chopped meat, dried yeast, etc. The remainder of the food can consist of preferably a good meal, well sifted ; barley meal (with or without the addition of a third of maize meal), having given us particularly good results, and being relatively cheap in normal times. These various ingredients can be mixed into a homogeneous paste with the addition of sufficient lukewarm water to remain moist and compact without becoming sticky or glutinous. At the time of the daily preparation two table-spoons of kitchen salt (chlorate of sodium), one or two table-spoons of good cod-liver oil, and one or two grammes of iodide of potassium or iodide of sodium (which you can get from your chemist) should be added to each kilogram of paste. Finally, at the last moment a good handful of a mixture of gravel stones of the size of a pea, and crushed oyster shells should be added to the paste and the lot given morning and evening to your sea-ducks, in flat dishes at the side of the water. They will then no longer have any excuse to waste away or die in the future as the result of bad feeding. In the system given abovp two points merit explanation, the exclusion of bran in favour of sifted meal and the rejection of seeds retaining their husks, and the regular addition of an iodine salt. The two measures have the same objective, the prevention of the infectious complaint most dangerous of all to aquatic or arctic birds from Eiders and Albatrosses to Penguins, from Razorbills to Snowy Owls. . . . I refer to aspergillosis or tracheo-pulmonary mycosis. It is not possible to write at length of this injurious disease which destroys so many valuable specimens every year both in Zoological gardens and private collections. It is sufficient to state that it is caused by the development in the internal cavities of the animal of a fungus or mould, Aspergillus fumigatus , the reproductive spores of which are found in myriads in normal state on the surface of grains of cereals, straw and hay, etc. Because of the ubiquitousness of this fungus, vegetarian or land-birds are normally immunized or insensible to its attack and it is rarely that it develops pathologically. On the other hand, the sea-ducks have no protection from its attacks, against which they have nothing to guard them, for Aspergillus and its spores do not exist in their natural habitat. The ill-omened cryptogam appears in effect to be destroyed by the presence, even in small quantities, of iodine or salts of iodine, which justifies the addition of iodide in the food which we advocate. For the same reasons that we omit bran from the food, a source of mass infection by spores of Aspergillus , it is necessary to watch out that vegetable remains are not left to moulder in any corner of the sea-ducks’ enclosure, and if for some reason they have to be shut up in a limited space they must not be given straw or JEAN MARIE DERSGHEID - THE EIDER DUCK IN CAPTIVITY I 77 hay as litter, but if possible broken-up peat which is completely clean and aseptic. Concerning the feeding of Eiders and other sea-ducks, it only remains to mention that it is advantageous in the case of large collec¬ tions of several dozens of birds for example — to replace the mash of which we have spoken by a sort of special bread of almost the same composition, except that the 2/3 meal must be replaced by wheat or rye meal which is less heavy and that the kitchen salt must be omitted as it prevents the dough rising before baking. These special loaves, containing thus about 25% of albuminous products are a complete food, easily handled and can be kept in good condition for eight to ten days, except in hot weather. We used them cut in pieces of the size of a dice, this size being equally suitable for the largest (Eiders and Goosanders) and for the smallest (Harlequins and Buffle-heads) of the ducks to which the food was given. It is a good thing to come to an arrangement with the local baker for the making of this bread (the baking gives off a strong smell owing to the fish meal) in order to assure delivery at regular intervals. The preceding advice gives rise to the objection that in these troublous times through which we are passing it is physically impossible — and indeed illegal — to feed our birds in this way ; the remark is pertinent and explains at the same time why the collections of birds of this kind which were formed before the war at the price of years of experience, often without result, and costly effort have become obscured in the political storm. Our advice, we do not deny, cannot be followed in a practical manner until the general situation has returned to normal, particularly with regard to feeding. The lessons learnt before the war and recorded in the present notes can then be of interest and use. We have referred at the beginning of this article to a third important point with regard to Eiders in captivity — the critical period of the moult. Is this because it takes place during the summer months that the Eiders, adapted to live in arctic regions or in the fresh breezes of the open sea suffer from an excess of heat or above all from a lack of air ? It is always, as with the Scoters, also essentially marine ducks, the most dangerous period of the year when mortality is highest even among specimens perfectly acclimatized or born in captivity. It is not rare at this season for them to refuse all food and to die after a few weeks of misery, in a complete state of starvation and without having renewed their feathers. The method of guarding against the dangerous period is not easy to indicate, up to the present the most I can say is that one must by all possible means encourage the birds to eat normally, by ensuring that their food is always completely fresh and increasing if necessary the number of daily meals, and by offering the food for which the birds appear to have a preference or a special liking. Ij8 JEAN MARIE DERSGHEID - THE EIDER DUCK IN CAPTIVITY Sometimes little pieces of raw meat persuades them to wish to eat in spite of their apathy. It is advisable in certain cases to “ loosen ” any moult which appears to be retarded by pulling out half a dozen old feathers from each of the wings and from the tail, repeating this procedure two or three times at an interval of a few days. The other large feathers — the most difficult to renew, then follow these feathers in their fall — at least this is so in many cases. I will mention in conclusion, certain peculiarities of the subject of The head of the Eider has a very characteristic profile, the forehead extending in a straight line along the ridge of the upper mandible. This is of a peculiar triangular shape and it is remarkable that the feathered cheeks extend to a point between the ridge and the edge of the beak in a way which is not found in any other group of ducks. The large black eyebrows, the nape tinted with greenish-grey, and the salmon-pink shade of the breast are the special characteristics of the adult male. this article, peculiarities which can be noted in the accompanying illustration. In this species the dimorphic sexual differences are very marked, if not in size and build at least in the colouration of the plumage. The female is entirely a beautiful chestnut brown, striped transversely with black. As for the male, he has a magnificent dress of velvety black, alternating with pure white ; contrary to what JEAN MARIE DERSCHIED - THE EIDER DUCK IN CAPTIVITY 1 79 has been observed in the majority of other birds, and equally in animals in general, these two colours are so arranged in the general scheme that the top of the body is almost entirely light and the under¬ parts (with the exception of the throat) are all black. It is impossible in the present stage of knowledge to offer a satisfactory explanation of this abnormal type of colouration which is not imitated by any other birds living in the same habitat and of about the same manner as the Eiders. The upper part of the head is adorned in the male Eider by two broad bands, or eyebrows, of a beautiful, lustrous black, which divide a narrow white line along the top of the head : it is near the lower edge of these black bands but inside their area that the eyes are placed ; they are equally black and for this reason almost invisible at a short distance. Certain authors (for instance M. Boubier, 1922) have even stated that the eyes of the Eider are situated on the upper part of the head and not laterally as in other ducks, and contends that this is a special adaptation for diving so that the bird could continue to see what is happening on the surface of the water. This theory is not confirmed by an objective examination of the position of the organs in question, further one cannot understand what use it could be for a diving duck in search of food on the bottom that is to say below him to “ keep an eye 5 5 on the surface of the sea where he need not fear at that moment the arrival of some enemy. Because of their heavy build and their unusual strength, Eider ducks have in nature few adversaries or enemies, except for man in countries such as Greenland, Alaska, and Siberia. One peculiarity of colouration worthy of mention in the Eider in good health is the beautiful shade of salmon pink which replaces the white, especially in spring, on the front of the chest. This rich shade disappears in specimens which are feeble or ill, and often in those which are kept in captivity ; this is also the case with the shade of yellowish pink on the under parts of the Goosander ( Mergus merganser) in captivity. This is a matter, as our experience has proved, of a lack in the food, very probably a lack of vitamins (perhaps above all vitamin C, which the birds normally find in large numbers in the flesh of mussels and other marine life) . The same loss of colour of the tone of the yellow-pink-reds is to be seen in Flamingoes, Scarlet Ibises, etc., kept in captivity and the researches carried on in certain Zoos in the U.S.A. have proved that these birds keep their colour best if they are fed principally on fresh shrimps and other live food. In our experience with the feeding described above, we have succeeded for many years in keeping the good colours of the male Eiders and up to a certain point that of the male Goosanders although these seem to lose colour much more easily. I must also 180 D. S. WINTLE - MEMORIES OF WATERFOWL AT WALGOT mention the characteristic “ greeny grey ” colour of area in the nape of the neck of the male Eider, which only appears on adult birds in good health. The male Eiders do not acquire their full plumage till the third year and it is only then that one sees the feathers above the wing called “ sickles 55 becoming long and tapering and curving out¬ wards above the primaries — this characteristic determines whether a bird is a young or adult male. The females of all ages have a similar plumage to young birds of less than a year old, but of a warmer and deeper brown. Eiders are sociable with their own species and inoffensive towards other waterfowl. ! * * * MEMORIES OF WATERFOWL AT WALGOT By D. S. Wintle I have been asked to submit an article on waterfowl. As I have had little to do with these birds during the past seven years I cannot think of anything better than to write, in a general sort of way, about the Walcot Waterfowl collection as it was in days gone by. Walcot Park, once known to many naturalists, contains three large and beautiful lakes on which lived one of the finest collections of water- fowl ever assembled in our islands. I regret to say that nothing much remains of this collection to-day — a few hybrid geese, a pair of Emperor Geese, a small flock of Canadian Geese, one Buffle Headed drake, and a flock of Mandarins which maintain themselves in a wild state. Mr. Ronald Stevens who, with his brother Mr. Noel Stevens, owned this collection, was always keen to introduce to the lakes new species of duck. I remember receiving one year about 30 Pigmy Geese, 20 Hottentot Teal, 15 White-backed Duck, 20 Gape Teal, and a number of South African Red Billed Duck, all of which reached this country in very good condition. The Pigmy Geese, little yellow¬ billed creatures patterned in shining green and orange-brown, and shaped much like Garolinas, were placed in a glass-house when first they arrived. We fed them on millet and for a few weeks they flourished. Quite suddenly they developed warts on the head and bill and then they started to die like flies. In desperation we turned them loose on a sheltered pond, thinking that more natural conditions might save a small number of them. However, all of them died. D. S. WINTLE MEMORIES OF WATERFOWL AT WALGOT 1 8 1 The Hottentot Teal proved hardy little birds and several pairs nested. They were not prolific breeders for the ducks made a habit of laying two eggs and then showing no further interest in their domestic duties. On one occasion only did a pair produce a full clutch of eight eggs. The nest was always made close to the water’s edge where grasses and wild flowers grew thickly. Hottentot Teal are probably the smallest duck in the world and as such their eggs are tiny and their ducklings minute. They were not difficult to rear, provided one chose for their foster mother a small and light-footed bantam. The fat, dumpy little White-backed Duck, mottled yellowish brown and dark brown, stub-billed and short-tailed, were hardy enough but they were very stupid. The first winter they spent at Walcot was unfortunately a severe one, and for long periods at a time the lake on which they lived was frozen over, except for one or two small areas of open water. Being diving duck, they would go off on a sub¬ marine search for food, forgetting all about the ice, in consequence many were drowned. Two drakes realized the danger of being trapped under the ice and these two lived for many years. Both the Gape Teal and African Red-billed Duck adapted themselves to the English climate, they bred fairly readily and their young were easy to rear. North American Ruddy Duck, one pair of which we obtained from Mr. Sibley’s duck farm in America proved a great success. We found them easy to keep and they were in no way upset by their journey across the Atlantic. The drake, with his Cambridge blue beak, black cap, white cheeks, brick-red body, and long spiny tail was always admired by visitors to Walcot. No species of duck is better suited to small garden ponds, particularly as fencing is not needed to keep them at home. They are clumsy on land and dislike walking. Moreover, they quickly become tame. The pair we had bred freely, and the ducklings were not difficult to rear artificially. If all domestic arrangements were left to the parent birds I imagine that every duckling would have a first rate chance of reaching maturity. A strange feature about this species is the size of its egg. Though the Ruddy Duck is approximately two- thirds the size of a Tufted Duck its egg is considerably larger than that of a Mallard. I do not think Musk Duck have been brought over to England on many occasions. Late in 1938, we imported two specimens from Australia. These reached us in a deplorable state, their feathers were dry, dirty, and smashed, the skin on their legs and bills was cracked and 'scabbed. However, they had in their dark little eyes a look of determination. For a while we kept them in a stable bedded with peat moss and fed them on raw shredded beef and biscuit meal. Both had grand appetites and sloshed up their food like hungry pigs. Soon they began to wax fat, and then a long overdue moult 1 82 D. S. WINTLE MEMORIES OF WATERFOWL AT WALCOT commenced. When their new feathers began to show \ye turned them lopse on a small pond. A few weeks later they looked spick and span in their new tightly feathered dress of dark pepper and salt colour. New skin grew over their heavy black bills, which now shone like the toe-caps of guardsmen’s boots. We did not pinion them because we thought they would never manage to rise off their small, enclosed pond, their wings were so small and ineffective in appearance. Unfortunately one night they both scuttled over their pond, making loud smacking noises with their large, webbed feet, both became air¬ borne and they were away. One crashed into a wire netting fence near the lakes and was caught. The other was never seen or heard of again. I believe these two Musk Duck were females for they developed no chin wattle or pouch, nor did they ever smell of musk. Every spring we received a large consignment of Harlequin eggs from Iceland. Mr. Ronald Stevens gave these his special attention, and after conducting experiments concerning the correct feeding of Harlequin ducklings he finally concluded that maggots formed the ideal diet. Thus we made many unpleasant journeys to slaughter yards collecting trailer loads of odious offal. This filth was placed in a structure known as the “ Maggotorium ”, which quickly became a murmurous haunt of flies, wasps, and other scavenging insects. As the maggots ripened, prior to pupation, they dropped from the offal on to a sanded tray from which Mr. Stevens shovelled them into buckets — brave man ! — no one else would go near the Maggotorium. Undoubtedly the young Harlequins loved maggots, they would wolf a whole bucket of them in next to no time. Harlequin ducklings are extremely difficult to rear and the fact that about nine reached a fully fledged state out of 50 or 60 hatched will give some idea of Mr. Stevens’s achievement to others who have attempted to rear this species. No Harlequin Duck which we reared lived for more than 2| years and the longest time we ever kept a drake was 18 months. This drake had just moulted into full adult breeding plumage when he died, a creature of amazing beauty. Like other birds, waterfowl have very definite individualities though, generally speaking, they confirm to a code of behaviour peculiar to their own particular species. I can, however, recall one or two exceptions. At one time there lived on the lakes a wild Common Teal drake which attached itself to a pair of Carolina Wood Duck. No matter where the Carolinas went the Teal accompanied them. He sat with them on chimney pots, roof tops, on fences, and on the branches of trees. When the Carolinas went searching for nesting sites in spring¬ time he would often take the initiative in exploring suitable holes in trees. One day, I received a message from a farmer’s wife asking me to collect a duck which had landed in her sitting-room fireplace, D. S. WINTLE - MEMORIES OF WATERFOWL AT WALGOT 1 83 having come down the chimney. On my arrival at the farm, I was presented with a bag in which was the little Teal drake. I released him and he was soon back with the Carolinas. Then there was the discovery that female Andean Geese will, if encouraged, show a preference for human company over that of their own kind. We had a goose which would follow us about like a dog, she loved too to be stroked and tickled under the chin and on the cheek. She was gentle, well behaved and much liked by children, who always asked if they might take her home. Without doubt, Andean Geese would become popular pets in this country if they could be readily obtained at a reasonable price. The purchaser would, however, have to make sure he did not take home a gander by mistake. I know of no species of goose, the gander of which is more fierce. These snorting, puffed-up creatures make no idle threats as do farm¬ yard ganders. An Andean Gander will come straight at you from a distance of several hundred yards and in a few moments you’ll have your legs thrashed by his powerful wings. The lakes at Walcot are silent now. The witch-like laughter of Common Shelducks no longer echoes over the water nor does one hear the intermittent coo of Eider drakes. No Carolinas cry to the moon or use their musical note to enhance the sacred atmosphere of autumn. Once the home of more than 125 species of ducks, geese, and swans, the lakes have been handed back to their old tenants, Mallard, Coot, and Moorhens. 184 JOHN BERRY - STRANGE BEHAVIOUR OF WHITEFRONTED GANDER STRANGE NESTING BEHAVIOUR OF A WHITEFRONTED GANDER By John Berry The fascination of studying the breeding habits of wild geese certainly lies much in the unexpected vagaries of individuals. In the last waterfowl number of the Avicultural Magazine (1945, p. 105), I mentioned unusual nesting behaviour at Tayfield, Fife, on the part of a Whitefronted Gander — behaviour which has since been even more remarkably repeated. In 1943, the Whitefronted Gander paired with an old Greylag Goose whose previous mate, a Greylag, like herself, had died some years before. The Greylag Goose nested in 1944 with the Whitefronted Gander as her devoted companion. But he did not guard her nest in a manner usual for the ganders of his own, or of any other species of geese ; indeed, he did not behave like a gander at all, for he made another nest for himself as close to the Greylag’s as she would permit and sat on his nest as if he were also a female incubating eggs. In due course the Greylag hatched three goslings. These were not hybrids with the Whitefronted, but “ foster-children ” — a pure¬ bred Whitefronted Gosling and two S no w-x- Greylag hybrids. When the goslings left the nest, the Whitefronted Gander led and defended the brood in a normal masculine way and the family party remained together until the following April. When I visited the goose fields on 8th May, 1945, the three young geese were feeding with other non-breeding immatures. After a short search, I discovered the Greylag on a nest in the remains of an old straw stack. On a similar nest almost touching hers, and behaving in a precisely similar feminine manner, was the Whitefronted Gander. As in the previous season, he made no attempt to drive off other geese which came near, but merely sat tight on his nest, stretching out his neck close to the ground and hissing softly — behaving, in fact, just as the female Greylag did. Also nesting in the scattered straw* undisturbed and apparently unnoticed by the two geese, were a Pheasant and a domestic fowl from a nearby hen-run. My next visit was on 26th May. The Greylag, for whom the straw provided a comparatively limitless supply of ideal nesting material, had made a huge nest, or rather mound of straw, on top of which she was comfortably established. The Whitefronted Gander was sitting on a more modest nest beside that of his mate. Both the Pheasant and the hen had disappeared and not much was left of their nests. It happened that I had in my hand a Barnacle’s egg which I had just picked up at the bottom of a bank where a colony of these geese Avic. Mag. 1946. Copyright ] [ John Berry Whitefronted Gander trying to sit on Rhea’s Egg Copyright] [John Berry Greylag Goose lifting Rhea’s Egg into her Nest To face p. 185] JOHN BERRY— STRANGE BEHAVIOUR OF WH1TEFRONTED GANDER 1 85 were nesting. Remembering how the Whitefronted had, in the previous season, taken eggs from his mate’s nest while she was absent from it and had sat on them himself, I put the Barnacle’s egg on the ground near the nest and retired to watch his reactions. For about two minutes he contemplated the egg without moving. He then rose slowly from his nest, walked to the Barnacle’s egg and without hesita¬ tion began to dribble it towards his nest, walking backwards and skilfully keeping the egg rolling between his feet with the underside of his bill* The Greylag was much interested in this proceeding ; she craned her neck' out of her nest and there was much low muttering between them. The gander got the egg into his nest and sat down on it, but the goose leaned out of her nest and poked her bill under him, at which he stood up again. After some further “ talk ”, the gander rolled the egg out of his nest and the goose helped him with her bill to work it up the pile of straw into her own nest. She stood up to push the egg under her, and I saw that her nest contained some if not all the Pheasant’s and hen’s eggs as well as a full clutch of six goose eggs. In order to test whether there was any size limit to the eggs which these two geese would collect, we returned later that evening with a very large white Rhea’s egg which we left a couple of yards from the nests. The Whitefronted behaved just .as he had with the Barnacle’s egg. Without great difficulty he managed to trundle the big egg into his nest and tried to sit on it. He sat on top of it, and rolled off forwards ; he tried again, and the egg came out sideways. For several minutes he kept on trying to sit on the egg, the Greylag watching him keenly and muttering continuously. At last he gave it up and sat down at the edge of his nest with the big egg against his breast. The Greylag stepped from her nest and rolled the Rhea’s egg up into it most skil¬ fully. The Whitefronted made no attempt to assist her. One could imagine that she was telling him how inefficient he was ; he looked quite crestfallen. The goose sat down on her nest, moving the big egg over to her side ; she appeared to be working a place for it under her with her feet. Soon she had completed the task and rose slightly to tuck the egg below her, it rolled into place easily. She fluffed out her flank feathers and pulled straw up round her with her bill, successfully covering all the eggs. But she was so obviously uncomfortable that I decided to remove the Rhea’s egg and also some of the other eggs in hopes that she would then have a better chance of incubating and hatching her own. I found that the Rhea’s egg was in the centre of the nest, deeply sunk in the straw ; the other eggs were closely packed round it, the hen’s and Pheasant’s eggs at the outside with the tops of all the eggs level. The following afternoon we tried one more experiment with this pair of geese. I wanted to know whether they would discriminate 1 86 JOHN BERRY - STRANGE BEHAVIOUR OF WHITEFRONTED GANDER between an egg of whatever size and an egg-like object of different shape and texture. So, from some yards, I rolled a golf ball toward the straw nests. The Whitefronted eyed the ball for some minutes before he rose from his nest and walked over to examine it. He touched the ball with his bill and it rolled about a foot straight away from him. This seemed to surprise him considerably, and the Greylag was also much interested. The gander walked to the ball and inspected it cautiously from all angles, he then suddenly opened his bill very wide and tried to pick the ball up in it. He could not quite achieve this, so dribbled the ball to the straw pile, walking backwards and keeping the ball rolling between his feet with his bill, as he had done with the eggs. On this occasion he did not take it to his own nest, but worked it up the straw to the Greylag’s nest where his mate examined it closely. She moved it about with her bill and then rejected it without making any effort to put it under her. Finally she pushed it away and it rolled down the straw heap. The Whitefronted collected it from there and took it into his own nest where I left him sitting on it. Next morning the golf ball had disappeared. I found it five weeks later in the Greylag’s nest with her six rotten eggs which she had by then deserted. The geese themselves had been rejoined by the foster- children — the Whitefronted and the two “ Snowlags ”, and the family party kept together for the rest of the year. Visiting Tayfield in March, 1946, I found that the t; children ” had gone off on their own. The Whitefronted, a female, had paired with a Pinkfooted Gander fifteen years older than herself ; the “ Snow- lags ” were a male and a female and I had hoped that they would breed together and perhaps produce a fertile race new to science. But the male was flying about with a flock of Barnacles with one of which he subsequently mated, and the female had paired with her own father, an elderly Lesser Snow, with whose help she later hatched a fine brood of five rather beautiful double hybrids. On 18th May, the Whitefronted and the Greylag were again nesting on the identical spots they had occupied in 1945. Most of the straw had become scattered during the winter, and the Greylag had collected almost all that was left, so while she had quite a large nest, the Whitefronted was sitting on little more than bare ground. This year there were no Pheasants or hens nesting near whose eggs the geese could steal, and we spared them the diversion of any further experimental sub¬ stitutes. On 4th June, they left their nests with four hybrid goslings whom the gander led and defended in all circumstances in an entirely normal masculine manner of which any mother goose might well be proud. H. H. DAVIS WILD GEESE ON THE SEVERN II 1 87 WILD GEESE ON THE SEVERN— II By H. H. Davis, M.B.O.U. The following account, describing briefly what was perhaps the most exciting days goose-watching ever enjoyed in these Islands, may be regarded as supplementary to an article, in the Waterfowl issue of the Avicultural Magazine for July- August, 1945, concerning the large numbers of wild geese that winter annually on the New Grounds, at Slimbridge, in Gloucestershire. On 1 6th December, 1945, four observers — Lieut. -Commander Peter Scott, Messrs. Clive Wilson and John Winter, and the writer, visited this famous haunt to find the geese in great strength and grazing quietly on their favourite saltmarsh. This 200-acre marsh is flanked by the Severn on one side and by an extensive floodbank on the other. Overlooked by four concrete pillboxes, conveniently spaced out along the floodbank, it offers better facilities for close-up observa¬ tion than are to be had in any other haunt. On our arrival many of the geese were feeding only 200 yards out from the floodbank, while a few were considerably nearer. With a little judgment and a good deal of luck we managed to crawl into a pillbox without the birds being any the wiser, and once inside were rewarded with uninterrupted views over the marsh. Sprawled across it, thickly in some places and thinly in others, were not less than 2,000 geese. In a light as good as it can be on a December morning we began, with binoculars and a telescope, a careful survey of the various flocks and at once found, as we expected to find, that the great majority were White-fronts. Here and there amongst the huge gathering, how¬ ever, were little parties of Pink-feet — perhaps seventy birds in all. Our attention was soon drawn to a Bean-Goose, an immature bird, with a typically segetum type bill, feeding with the White-fronts nearest at hand, and looking strikingly dark alongside its paler com¬ panions. Training our glasses further afield, we searched for a Barnacle which we knew had been there during the past few weeks. Although much less conspicuous amongst the grey geese than one would suppose, it soon came to view and was sufficiently close for us to see that it too was an immature bird. An hour had passed when attention was focused on a compact little goose amongst a party of White-fronts on the north side of the pillbox. To our astonishment it proved to be an adult example of that very scarce visitor to Britain — the Lesser White-front.1 Compared 1 The only fully authenticated previous records of the Lesser White-fronted Goose (A. erythropus) in the British Isles are those of an immature bird shot in Northumberland in September, 1886, and of an adult seen in Lincolnshire in January, 1943 {The Field, nth December, 1886, and 1 8th August, 1945). Several other records are regarded as doubtful (cf. Handbook of British Birds, vol. iii, p. 191). 1 88 H. H. DAVIS WILD GEESE ON THE SEVERN II with its companions, the bird looked darker and smaller, while its shape and carriage seemed altogether more delicate. Its generally neater and smoother appearance was, no doubt, accentuated by the short neck and legs, and by the light edges of the mantle feathers being narrower and less prominent than in most grey geese. The bright pink — almost coral pink — bill was noticeably small, thus giving the head, which was much darker than in typical albifrons , a somewhat rounded effect. When viewed head-on, the white blaze on the forehead looked narrower than the usual blaze of the Common White-front, and it extended well up between the eyes. Most important, however, of the field-characters noted were the swollen, golden-yellow eyelids which were seen clearly by all four observers. Watching this delightful goose and its larger relatives as they grazed slowly to within i oo yards range, we suddenly realized that there was also an immature Greylag amongst the party. This, in marked contrast to the dark looking Bean, was a very pale bird. We had just commented on its bright, orange-yellow bill when, as if to help in establishing its identity, this latest addition to our list for the day obligingly unfolded a wing to show us the conspicuously blue-grey shoulder. After what had been a thrilling three hours we moved, under cover of the floodbank, to a pillbox lower down the salting. From there we examined another flock some 400 yards out, and almost immediately identified what was undoubtedly a second adult Lesser White-front. Again the delicate shape and carriage were noted, while the characteristic white blaze, even more extensive than that of the first bird, went right to the top of the head. Despite the longer range we were just able, with telescope, to get an occasional glimpse of the golden-yellow eyelids. Whereas the first bird was probably a female, this one, by its behaviour and the more extensive white blaze, was almost certainly a male. While it was still under review yet another species — a Brent, of the dark-breasted form — was seen with a large pack of White-fronts close in to the floodbank. As with the Barnacle, the Greylag, and the Bean, this also was quite evidently a bird of the ■year. We had now obtained excellent views of no less than seven species on this one goosemarsh, and had had the additional satisfaction of finding, for the first time in the annals of bird-watching in these Islands, all five species of the British grey geese together. Truly a remarkable day ! J. F. M. FLOYD — -THE WILD SWANS OF ERIN 89 THE WILD SWANS OF ERIN By J, F. M. Floyd Even the air is not what it was, more and more secrets make it their speedtrack ; so that the birds cannot evade the fact that they are so many solid bodies more or less suspended in the atmosphere, and therefore liable to be impinged upon, if they do not themselves impinge. One poor Swan, one dark night of expectation, bent only on a personal affair in the west, made strange contact with a cluster of semi-human looking figures on a certain hill-top below, like glow¬ worms round some obscure nucleus of attraction ; and four great gun barrels, out of the abyss, came nosing round on a hot scent ; but that happened in Scotland, so — - To readers who enjoyed Mr. Delacour’s account of the Trumpeter Swan in the U.S.A., some account of its near relations may be acceptable, how they came to County Derry and winter quarters in Forty- two and three. One expected the clangour of the first wild geese in the sky any night at the end of September, but it was another month before the wild Swans began to reach Lough Foyle. Meanwhile, the Mute Swans had been gathering together from their summer haunts until, in the place I am writing of, there were sometimes nearly a hundred. This is one of a string of ponds just inside a seawall, that protects a mile or two of fields won from the bottom of the Lough along its southern shore. This lake-like water at the western end, next the River Faughan, must be deeper than the others and contain a good growth of zostera grass, on which the Mutes and the visitors live throughout the winter, with a few out of the many Wigeon and some Tufted duck. I think some of the Mutes came from a distance, possibly from “ abroad ”, but know of no concrete evidence and would not raise a gun to procure it. That was the great beauty of the place, there was no shooting, unless you count an occasional “ Air Force bloke” with a gun in the distance, whose only effect was to make distant birds come nearer. The whole was a natural sanctuary for ducks and waders to come and go, and even the Greylags were getting used to the ways of aeroplanes ; mostly the birds ignored any but the lowest stunts. A Flamingo spent one whole winter here some years ago. My reason for regarding some of the Mutes as possible migrants is that one day, it was 24th October, 1942, I witnessed the arrival of nine from the east, flying in the perfect V formation I associate with long-distance flights, or at least a change of locality. Strangford Lough is also a great resort of the Mutes. The leader was two swan lengths in front of the arms of the V. I go J. F. M. FLOYD - THE WILD SWANS OF ERIN It was the very next day there came a rhythmical honking from high in the sky ; not the gabble of geese, but wild Swans passing inland on a south-westerly course, already distant where the Derry barrage balloons were dimmed by haze. They flew in a V with an extra Swan in the lead, well in front of the pointer, and showed a cold, ghostly white through the warm purplish ground haze. One of those marvellous still days in N.I. that set the spiderlings aloft on the sun’s warmth, and the Rooks rebuilding ; when the sky is a vast blue shade over a crystal, set in huge cumulus clouds, immovably embedded in haze behind the circle of hills. Only towards evening the clouds soften and swell and the falling sun glares at the still monotony of the rain. The wings of Mute Swans sing their own droning accompaniment, but these were Cygni cygni , Whooper Swans, on the high migration skyway, plying silent wings to an air chanty in an age-old tongue — honqu-ha, honqu-ha, honqu-ha — Do the honks time their wing strokes and the short second syllables the recovery — of wings and breath ? These first comers were in the whiteness of maturity, or at least of their second winter. Cygnets began to come a few days later, but always accompanied by adults, presumably parents. Several points of interest make it worth while to give details. There were Whoopers already on the lake in a great assembly of Mutes, as their two syllable calls could be heard now and then in spite of an easterly wind. Five Swans abreast came flying low from the east and honkaed as they came ; they let down their undercarriages, small and neat compared with the huge paddles of Mutes, lowered their necks and came down on bent wings ; but heads and wings went up as they struck the water on the adjoining pond. Two snowy parents and three young in pale, smudgy sepia. The yellow on the bills of the old birds, that dis¬ tinguishes both Whooper and Bewick Bwans from Trumpeters, and adds greatly to their beauty, was bright and deep, but those parts in the young were dull reddish orange, more like Mutes. The cob in front raised himself in the shallow water to scan the neighbourhood. A second flight of eight came over the seawall and turned west, dipping out of sight behind it to reappear in the gap made by a creek, in line ahead ; evenly spaced except for the one in front who had a distinct lead. They went behind the wall again and were next seen at the far end of the Swan lake, now eleven strong, where they swung back on to the water in a line ; the leader first, then three some distance behind, the newcomers I supposed, a pair with one young bird ; but the other seven carried overhead and alighted well in front, first two old birds then five young in line behind. That may have been the correct drill, or perhaps the trio upset it. They came honking and were greeted by their fellow Whoops among the Mutes. ifUl A vie. Mag. 1946. Bewick Swans Whooper and Mute Swans [To face p. 190 Avic. Mag. 1946. To face p. 191] The Gob in front raised himself- J. F. M. FLOYD - THE WILD SWANS OF ERIN 1 9 1 Five young, if all their own, seemed a fine family to bring from the far north. The family parties kept together and apart ; Mutes and Whoopers never take any notice of each other. But a pair of Mutes were often to be seen with no less than seven offspring ! No mix up. I once saw a stranger try to join that imposing procession. The cob, in the van, arched his wings, the pen coming third, slim on the water, arched hers a little and turned out toward the oncomer ; that was enough for him, or her. The wild Swans lack the superb carriage of the tame ; they cannot build triumphal arches of their wings and their necks go straight up, or lean back at the base when at ease, never cast in imposing curves ; but the yellow on their brows is fairer than gold, and they have their own slender elegance and a wild look, although wild mainly in name. In this part of Ireland, at any rate, they neither expect the Vandal nor meet him. There rose now and then a murmur of conversation in a low version of the same two syllables, hearing which the first family approached and left their pond with less effort and with a shorter run than Mutes could. Their wings at first made a swishing sound but this was soon hidden in the rhythm of their honking. That is surely functionally related to the “ wing-music ” of the Mutes, and both, say, to the timed beat of paddles on the gunwales of long canoes bound on the endless gold trail. They crossed over to the Swan lake in line, parents first, but one youngster overtook and passed them, a thing, I imagine, could only happen on a short flitting like this. They swung round above the crowd and took the water in line abreast. Three adult Whoopers climbed the bank with the aid of their wings, not too awkwardly, and stood on top to take a survey. Having folded their wings they settled matters with one sideways waggle of the tail. The leader, whom every swannish occasion would seem to produce, descended to the grassy flat and after a few steps stood at gaze, neck upright ; the other two followed. Then only three heads appeared from a dip in the ground, and one skyward stern replaced a head, then another ; sometimes three sterns were in the air as three swans up-ended in some hidden water. On the lake both species were feeding and up-ending, dragging up trailers of the weed to eat on the surface. About four o’clock two groups went away silently, a seven and then a ten, across the river and then over the Foyle and the low hills beyond, not rising much to clear farmsteads and trees, over the spire of Culmore church where the balloon barrage was just going up out of some tree clumps ; with nothing to fear and heedless of frontiers, but not keeping to their original formations. Three forged ahead, and a single bird, perhaps the Captain of the Eleven, left those behind and tried to overtake some in front ; wrong drill somewhere ? More Swans lifted and joined in from the unseen Faughan and the Foyle. I watched the 1 92 J. F. M. FLOYD — THE WILD SWANS OF ERIN last group in line abreast draw away over the tree tops, but they seemed stationary for an age ; how one’s arms ached holding up the binoculars ! At a great distance they shone dimly white when their topsides caught the sun, or all turned dark in a shadow against the brightness in the west. When a rain-squall crossed the Border and the setting sun warmed the grey of the clouds, and the Donegal hills made a flat tone of light in the falling mist, the Swans all turned blue over there, deep ultramarine. At the last moment the line rose a little, now far beyond the last ridge, and went behind a clump of trees on the crest. Galway Bay, Donegal Bay, Lough S willy, sure ’tis the melody of suchlike names that lures them on and on, not a memory or legend of bellyfuls of £ostera marina ! But some remained, a family party of six and others ; a pair of adults could almost be called winter residents, they were often lying on top of the bank or preening or grazing. During November and December, there might be as many as seventeen Whoopers, mostly adults, never unattached young. Sometimes they got together in the middle and dipped and lifted their heads to a great blowing of trumpets, spreading and beating their wings or half raising them in a winnowing motion. A line of thirteen came through the foot of a rainbow, on a day of rainbows, where it showed against the looming bastions of Binevenagh in the north-east. Their calling was not the full cry of two syllables, but a murmur of single nasal notes related to it. Three broke away and returned east but the others held on into the distance. The line changed direction when every Swan turned at once, which brought them line abreast, but when they came to some distant division of the way they wheeled together right about and went off to the left. The Bewicks, Cygnus hewickii bewickii , began soon after the New Year. Alongside Mutes and the pair of Whoopers, they were obviously much smaller, comparatively cobby. I never saw Whoopers any distance from big water, but a flock of Bewicks, as many as twenty-five, like a flock of geese, were often grazing in the flats, on stubbles where the stooks had only just been gathered and where the only water was in ditch and flooded furrow, out of which some necks stuck up and only the tops of backs could be seen. Among them were seven immature birds, without discernible family ties, of an attractive pale sepia, affected by blueish sky reflection. At times a very low moaning could be heard, composed of a repeated hod. They were confident and took no notice of passing humans. When not feeding in the fields they were probably out on the Lough, as I never saw more than a few about the ponds. In fact, I saw them there in February of ’42, but at too great a range to be certain. This was on the road to Limavady. About twenty Brent geese were grazing on a favourite field of short turf next the shore. Beyond TERRY JONES - 1 946 WATERFOWL BREEDING SEASON AT LEGKFORD 1 93 were twenty-six Swans, snow white on the very blue water of the Lough, one or two in their first winter. They all had their necks up and were full of suspicion, rather short necks and shortish bodies, very like white domestic geese ; they worked their heads up and down from time to time but were about a mile out of hearing. They cruised on and off for a long time, wanting to land but sheering off after each approach. In the end they worked out into the Lough and rose in two groups of twelve and fourteen, flying off into the sea¬ like distance in opposite directions : “ one behind another, looking like a streaming white ribbon.” The Mutes began to disappear, until there were only thirty in mid-February, and by the end of March only a dozen. My latest dates for Wild Swans were : Five Whoopers (three young), 27th February, 1942. One Bewick for a few days with Mutes, 1 ith March, 1942. One young Whooper, 14th March, 1942. “ On Target,” yelled one of the group round the predictor, and brought the G.P.O. on the run. “ It’s a b - Swan,” said the G.P.O., when he had looked into his telescope. * * * THE 1946 WATERFOWL BREEDING SEASON AT LECKFORD By Terry Jones This season has been a good one for the young waterfowl, if only we had had a decent stock of breeding birds, but as several of our birds were adults in 1939 and none have been replaced the remnants are inclined to be aged and infirm, widows or widowers. Of birds smaller than a Shelduck, only four pairs survived, and fortunately the Puna Teal were amongst the four, the others being a pair of Cape Teal, a pair of Mandarin, and a pair of Tufted. The other odds were a female Red-crested Pochard, so infirm and ancient that on land she can walk no better than a Grebe, a female Canvasback of the same age, a female American Wigeon, a male Chiloe Wigeon, two male Falcated and two male Lesser Scaup. The London Zoo most kindly lent us a male Red-crested Pochard, from that pair thirty young birds have been reared ; a male American Wigeon which died, so our duck laid in vain ; and a female Falcated which was very poor and did not lay. The old Canvasback laid and then decided to seek a mate amongst the immortals. The Mandarin laid seven eggs, five hatched, but three vanished 194 TERRY JONES - 1946 WATERFOWL BREEDING SEASON AT LEGKFORD mysteriously when about three weeks- old, the two survivors I hope will be females. The Tufted laid eight eggs ; eight hatched and one has been lost. So much for the more common species, if any to-day can be called common. The Puna Teal which were brought over in 1939 by Mr. Alastair Morrison are, I believe, the only pair in captivity. This little South American is like a large edition of the Versicolor Teal, the chief difference being that the Puna lacks the Versicolor’s beak patch, the beak being self pale blue in the Puna with a dark nail. The female, of course, is similar to the male, head black to a line just below the eye, throat and cheeks pale cream, body very finely vermiculated black and grey, the pencilling being coarser on the sides of the tail and upper rump. The duck has a light brown cast over her grey. This duck has laid several clutches each year, but during the war years none were reared. This year the duck has had four nests, the first hidden in dead herbage amongst growing nettles. Six eggs were laid, pale cream, very similar to those of a Wigeon in size, incubation 25 days. Four ducklings were hatched ; these ducklings were similar to those of a young Mallard, but the down colour is a drab grey and silver grey. One hung itself on the hen’s feathers and three, two ducks and a drake, have reached maturity. They proved fairly easy to rear on biscuit meal, egg, and insects. Nervous to start with, they became exceedingly tame and have not the slightest objection to being handled, are a menace amongst one’s feet, I trod on one when feeding them but by good luck simply trapped it in the instep. The young drakes can be sexed on feathering by the clearer pencilling of the rump and tail sides, females being simply drab. The young females also show some little black spots at the base of the bill as do most Mallards, Pintails, Teal, etc. From the second nest six young were hatched and six have been reared, from the third six were hatched and five are now beginning to feather, from the fourth nest none have yet hatched, but four eggs are fertile. The Cape Teal have very little sex difference except in size. Both sexes have plumage of a very pale silver grey, mottled, as in a female Mallard or Pintail, with a darker grey ; their beaks are pink, shading to bluish mauve at the base and edges, their eyes and tempers fiery. In the spring they went into a full moult as they always do and I did not expect any eggs till late summer. However, the duck started laying as soon as her flights were full grown. Six eggs were laid, well concealed in a tuft of grass on a steep bank. The eggs are cream and considerably smaller than those of the Puna Teal, but larger than Common Teal. Incubation is 24 to 26 days and the young have typical duckling markings, but are in the same two shades of pale grey as are the adults. Three were hatched in the first brood, but two died, TERRY JONES - 1 946 WATERFOWL BREEDING SEASON AT LEGKFORD 1 95 three again were hatched in the second and two have been reared. The old birds I then thought had finished laying, but at the time of writing, 28th July, the duck is laying again, six eggs so far. The first feather of the young has a slightly brown shade in the grey. Ruddy Shelduck consist of a sixteen-year-old female and a male of about seven years. This female has now a head as white as that of a female New Zealand Shelduck ; five young were hatched and reared from eight eggs. Australian laid eight, five hatched and a pair were reared ; the young female, however, died of crop binding. The Australian is reported to be less savage than most of the family, but our male was a terror. The nest was in a box in the branches of a willow. Rajah bred in 1940, when about a dozen were reared, but no eggs were laid till this year, by which time the flock had dwindled to two birds. The pair showed signs of breeding a long time before any eggs were laid, both birds displayed a great deal and in the evenings spent a lot of time hunting worms. For their food they do not wander about searching in the evenings as do most duck. They choose their beat to which they regularly return, evening after evening, or when¬ ever it is wet during the day. The pair always worked very close together and were amusing to watch. Having arrived at the spot, they marked time exceedingly rapidly for a quarter or even half a minute and then, without moving their feet, peered about till they spotted a foolish worm breaking the surface. Having smartly snaffled him the spotter returned to its mate and the pair started marking time again. A quiet dialogue is kept up most of the time, particularly during the periods when they are spotting the suckers. I have often seen them working and passed by half an hour later to find them within a yard of their original spot. The technique seems to work really well and their bag, I’m sure, is larger by far than that of the wandering searcher. The next stage was a tour of inspection of the various boxes. The female climbed the ladders and peered suspiciously through the entrance holes while the male generally stayed below. In this they were not in the least secretive. This went on for some time without getting the pair apparently any further, but suddenly the female started feeding up and that, of course, invariably means business. Eight eggs were laid, white or rather very slightly tinted cream, highly glossed and rather rounded. The duck showed no desire to sit. She died before going into eclipse. Incubation is thirty days, and there were five young hatched and reared. The down plumage is the same as the rest of the family in design, in this case the colours are black and white, but the cap is brilliant chestnut. The first plumage is very similar to the adult, but although the beak and legs are flesh white, as in the adult, the iris is dark. The Red-breasted geese paired up in a rather strange manner, there were two trios, one pair and an odd gander. Only one goose is 196 TERRY JONES - 1 946 WATERFOWL BREEDING SEASON AT LEGKFORD as far as I know hand-reared, and she laid ten eggs, from which we have reared nine goslings. Six Emperor goslings were hatched, four crushed and one was scalped, a ghastly record ; I shall say something about hens in a minute. Ruddy-headed Goose, eight eggs were laid, four hatched and three reared ; Ashy-headed Goose, five eggs laid, one hatched and reared. Blue-winged Goose, about a dozen eggs laid, eleven were hatched and ten are alive so far, two being very small. Five rather interesting hybrids were reared, Andean x Egyptian, and are remarkably like the Andean. Black Swans reared three cygnets from five eggs ; Black-necked laid five eggs but eventually they went bad. Whooper did not lay this year and Bewick have never laid. Broodies were mentioned a few lines back. They have been a nightmare this year as it was simply a case of make do and mend. Socking great Sussex were willing and docile, but when they flatten young Emperor Geese in rows it is rather trying on one’s temper. Most people have pet fads about broodies, mine is Sumatra game ; they are large, weigh little, and have small feet but large wings ; Yokohamas are excellent. Avoid a Silkie like the plague, except a cockerel perhaps. Ducklings invariably seem to hang themselves in a Silkie’s plumage ; she also has five toes and great thick feet like a baby elephant’s, and finally she has little wing for brooding. Silkie X hen or bantam are good, choose only good mothers to breed from and sons of good mothers to head the pens ; use only birds with four toes if possible and feet without feathers. If they are as carefully bred for their purpose as test laying stock is for production, it is quite amazing how much the broodies improve and how seldom an egg gets smashed or duckling crushed. Kill on the spot or the moment you can spare her any hen which either sits or rears badly, otherwise her sins are liable to be forgotten and she finds her way into the breeding pen to transmit her sins or into the sitting box to exasperate you afresh. G. L. SIBLEY - FERTILE CYANOCHEN-ALOPOCHEN HYBRIDS 1 97 FERTILE CYANOCHEN-ALOPOCHEN HYBRIDS By C. L. Sibley Although the labour and feed situations here in America during the war made it necessary to dispose of our bird collection, including all waterfowl, an interesting breeding took place in the spring of 1945, before the collection was entirely dispersed. For several seasons a fully winged Egyptian goose female mated with a Blue-winged goose male, laid her clutch of eggs and hatched her brood of hybrid goslings. The Blue-winged male was seemingly a model of domesticity, and fertilized the eggs of his Blue-winged mate, who did not seem to object to the extra-marital procedure when Miss Egyptian created the Eternal Triangle ! We gave away the hybrid offspring when they were grown, believing them to be mules. I think there are still two of them at the New York Zoological Park, ornamenting, with their odd colouring, the African Plains section of the gardens. In 1943 the Egyptian female mated again with the Blue-winged gander, but only one gosling was hatched. This was reared and proved to be a female. For some reason she was left, with our other waterfowl, in the general collection. We had no idea that she would be other than a sterile hybrid. Early in the spring of 1945 this hybrid female was seen to mate with a bachelor Blue-winged male, her half- brother, but we thought nothing of it as hybrids sometimes mate, even though they produce no eggs or offspring. Some time later, however, on inspecting a nest-box in which Ruddy Shelducks had nested the previous year, we found the Blue-wing Egyptian hybrid female incubating five eggs. Expecting them to be unfertile, from idle curiosity we candled them, and were surprised to find them fertile, so they were put back under the goose. Three goslings were hatched, but appeared very weak and died shortly. Whether or not this could have been weakness induced by the close relationship of the parent birds (half brother and sister) or was the result of fairly distant hybridism, I cannot say, but the interesting thing was the fact that a hybrid female from two supposedly widely separated families should have produced fertile and hatchable eggs. We still have the hybrid female, and I hope it may be possible later to obtain a Blue-winged male which is unrelated, so that we can again try to obtain this interesting breeding without the element of close relation¬ ship obscuring our observations. Captain Jean Delacour, of the New York Zoological Park, has with a colleague worked out a new classification of the Anatidae, and it is interesting to note that Alopochen and Cyanochen, formerly classified as widely divergent, are now classified by Delacour as closely related. CORRESPONDENCE 198 NOTES Semipalmated or Black-and-white Goose ( Anseranas semipalmata) . This Goose has been bred in the San Diego Zoo, California. I have no previous record. Ken Stott, Jr., gives a photograph of the adults with young in Aviculture , 1946, 13, and writes : — “It was in the first weeks of May, 1945, that this pair of Pied or Magpie Geese hatched five of the six fertile eggs which had been laid. Of the five young, two failed to survive infancy, but the remaining three have grown steadily until they are now as large as their parents.” A. A. P. Birds from America. Miss Knobel received the following letter from Mr. T. F. M. Williamson : — I hope to be in England some time in next April, and might be able to bring over a few North American birds, if you think any of the Members would care for them. Should you know of any such would you please ask them to get in touch with me with as little delay as possible, so that I may know their wants and try to take care of them ? — Yours very truly, T. F. M. Williamson. Ac KNOWLED GMENT The Editor acknowledges with many thanks the kind permission of Peter Scott to reproduce his painting of Baikal Teal and Mandarin Duck which forms the frontis¬ piece of this number. * * * CORRESPONDENCE DUCKS AND DELINQUENCY The last twenty years of my life have been spent in prison, Borstal, and Home Office School — so far in an administrative capacity ! In these Institutions one of the first things established has been a series of aviaries and enclosures where animals and birds could live as naturally as possible and provide two things that I believe can help the wrongdoer on his way back to the self-respect which is the primary foundation on which reformation is built : 1. They provide the outlet for affection and care which is present in our com- j munities in a degree that surprises the uninitiated. 2. They introduce (perhaps for the first time) an interest and hobby that does not end with the sentence, but is carried into the world outside when the day of release ; comes. More than once I have seen the street comer forsaken for the Garden Aviary, and petty or major robbery supplanted by the interest so well known to those who will read this note. Gan anyone help me to increase this side of our present endeavour, please ? I have 180 boys between the ages of ig|- and 18, and a staff which shares my own enthusiasm in the venture. We have some aviaries which are unoccupied at present, and in St. Francis Corner — where duck, bantams, geese, goats, and rabbits live in an acre and a half of freedom, there is room for more. Mr. Spedan Lewis has given us two aviaries and Miss Barclay-Smith has helped us in many ways (not least by her visits and advice) , and it is with her blessing that I write to ask for any birds, particularly colourful waterfowl, or pets of any kind that aviculturists may be generous enough to spare. I promise that they shall be happy and well cared for as they do their part in our scheme of remedial education. C. A. Joyce The Cotswold School, Ashton Keynes, Nr. Swindon, Wilts. CANDIDATES FOR ELECTION . H. C. Field, 25 St. Edwards Road, Bournbrook, Birmingham. Proposed by P. A. Birch. Claude Hooke, Circle H Ranch, P.O. Box 265, Mapa, California, U.S.A. Pro¬ posed by Eric C. Kinsey. Rev. O. J. Lambert, o.s.b., President Ampleforth College (Ornithological Section) Natural History Society, Ampleforth College, Yorkshire. Proposed by Phyllis Barclay-Smith. R. Pearson, i 12th Avenue, Nkana, N. Rhodesia. Proposed by E. Maud Knobel. A. E. Sibley, 15 Windsor Crescent, Harrow, Middlesex. Proposed by C. F. Harding. NEW MEMBERS C. Faudell, Orchard Cottage, Wexham Street, near Stoke Poges, Bucks. William Griffiths, 46 Police Hospital Road, Entally P.O. Calcutta, India. Paul Hansen, Gormsgade 3, Odense, Denmark. Mrs. Dorothy Annie Hayward, Invermay, Highland Avenue, Brentwood, Essex. J. Dalborg-Johansen (Dyrloege), A116gade 34, Odense, Denmark. Miss E. Lemon, Newlands, Lake Street, Mayfield, Sussex. Malcolm Charles Alastair Lyell, 7 Upper Brook Street, W. 1. John M. Murray, 87 Springkell Avenue, Maxwell Park, Glasgow, S. 1. P. H. Tanered, 19 Hardy Street, Ashfield, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia. REJOINED Hylton Blythe, New Inn, Hurstpierpoint, Sussex. Miss M. Rogers, Ingham New Hall, Ingham, Norfolk. CHANGES OF ADDRESS Norman Allison, to 13 Ovington Avenue, Boscombe East, Bournemouth, Hants. Mrs. H. E. Dennis, to Lower Nash, Nutbourne, Pulborough, Sussex. Guy Falkner, to White Rhino, Nyeri, Kenya Colony. Pat Maxwell, to Zoological Society of London, Whipsnade, Bedfordshire. C. T. Newmarch, to 56 Riddlesdown Avenue, Purley, Surrey. Karl Plath, to 305 S. Ceylon Avenue, Oak .Park, Ill., U.S.A. Francis H. Rudkin, to R.I. Box 8, Fillmore, California, U.S.A. Miss Pamela Scott, to 88 Oakley Street, Chelsea, S.W. 3. DONATION H. Cowley, £ 2 . MEMBERS’ ADVERTISEMENTS The charge for Members’ advertisements is one penny per word. Payment must accompany the advertisement , which must be sent on or before the 20th of the month, to Miss E. Maud Knobel, 86 Regent’s Park Road, N.W. i. All members of the Society are entitled to use this column , but the Council reserves the right to refuse any advertisements they consider unsuitable. WANTED Wanted, R. Alderson’s Book on Doves or others, illustrated. — A. Clarence, Nunton House, Nr. Salisbury. Wanted, 2 cock Orange Cheek, 1 cock Red Cheek Waxbill, 1 cock Avadavat. — Mrs. Cyril Wood, 8 Lambolle Road, N.W. 3. Wanted, Rowley’s Ornithological Miscellany, vol. i, or would purchase complete three volumes. Also Bird Notes, 1903 to 1907. — H. Mitchell, 130 Broomhill Drive, Glasgow, W. 1 . FOR SALE Coloured Plates suitable for framing. Surplus copies of Coloured Plates that have appeared in the Avicultural Magazine, the property of the Avicultural Society. Pheasants — Lewis’s Silver, Edwards’, Milne-Edwards’, Siamese Fireback, Black Kalij, Phasianus mut. tenebrosus ; Roulroul ; Touracos — Blue, White-bellied, Schalow’s ; Violaceous Plantain-eater ; Humming Birds — Swallow-tailed and Ruby-and-Topaz, groups of three and seven species ; Sunbirds — Beautiful, Splendid, Falkenstein’s and Reichenow’s Golden-winged ; Birds of Paradise — Orange-Wattled, Meyer’s Sickle- bill ; Regent Bird. Price is. each, Postage 3 d. extra. — A. A. Prestwich, Chelmsford Road, Southgate, London, N. 14. 1946 Redwings, Cocks and Hens; also 1945 Cock. Cock Ringneck (1943), or would exchange for hen. Offers. — Masser, Coundon, Coventry. Absolutely Indispensable to Aviculturists . . . “ AVICULTURE,” Vol. I, £1 Os. 9 d. {Vols. II and III out of print.) A mine of information on birds of all kinds, compiled by leading authorities on every branch of aviculture. ★ “ Index Guide to the Avicultural Magazine, 1894-1930.” By E. H. 55. To be obtained from: MESSRS. STEPHEN AUSTIN & SONS, LTD., 1 FORE STREET, HERTFORD, HERTS. For back numbers of the Avicultural Magazine apply also to the Publishers at the above address. ★ The originals of the plates published in the Avicultural Magazine may be, in most cases, purchased ; apply to the Secretary : MISS KNOBEL, 86 REGENT’S PARK ROAD, LONDON, N.W.l. STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, HERTFORD. AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE MAY 1 kiahTM CONTENTS PAGE The Breeding in Captivity of the Crowned Pigeon ( Goura victoria ) in the Adelaide Royal Zoological Gardens, South Australia {with plate), by H. Manfield . 199 Breeding Successes Abroad, by A. A. Prestwich . . . .201 Speculations on The Mimicry of The Jay, by Derek Goodwin . . .204 Memories of The Moluccas, by Alan Lendon ...... 206 An Early Account of some Perching Birds in The Scampston Collection, by A. F. Moody . . . . . . . . . . .213 The Society’s Medal .......... 223 Breeders of Hawfinches, by A. A. Prestwich ...... 224 Wild Bird Notes from the Isle of Thanet, by N. Wharton-Tigar . . . 225 British Aviculturists’ Club . . . . . . . . .228 Obituary ............ 229 Bird Items — Home and Colonial, by F. E. Matthews .... 230 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . .231 Correspondence ........... 233 Receipts and Payments Account . . . . . . . *234 Index ............. 235 V#™ K, * nn.rc tzl NOV EM B E R-D EC EM B ER VOL, 52 No. 6 PRICE 5/- 1946 THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY Founded 1894 President : A. EZRA, Esq,., O.B.E. MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION is £1 per annum, due on 1st January each year, and payable in advance. Life Membership, £15. Subscriptions, Changes of Address, Names of Candidates for Membership, etc., should be sent to — The Honorary Secretary and Treasurer , Tel.: Primrose 0247. MISS E. MAUD KNOBEL, 86 Regent’s Park Road, London, N.W. 1. THE AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE is published bi-monthly and sent free to members. Members joining at any time during the year are entitled to back numbers for the current year, on the payment of subscription. ALL MATTER FOR PUBLICATION IN THE MAGAZINE SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO— The Editor , MISS PHYLLIS BARCLAY-SMITH, F.Z.S., 51 Warwick Avenue, Tel. : Cunningham 3006. London, W. 9. The price of the Magazine to non-members is 5^. post free per copy, or £1 10 s. for the year. Orders for the Magazine, extra copies, and back numbers (from 1917) should be sent to the publishers, Messrs. Stephen Austin & Sons, 1 Fore Street, Hertford. Tel. : Hertford 2546-8. POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE Avic. Mag. 1946. [Photo by courtesy of “News and Mail” Adelaide. Victoria Crowned Pigeon [flour a victoria ) on Nest Note young bird’s head under parent bird. Victoria Crowned Pigeon and Young Hatched 7th March, 1946. Age : 62 days. Avicultural Magazine THE JOURNAL OF THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY Vol. 52. — No. 6. — All rights reserved. NOV.-DEC., 1946 THE BREEDING IN CAPTIVITY OF THE CROWNED PIGEON ( GOURA VICTORIA) IN THE ADELAIDE ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, SOUTH AUSTRALIA By H. Manfield, Head Bird Keeper It has been my ambition for many years to breed the Crowned Pigeon, as I always have had a weakness for Pigeons right from a small boy, and have kept most of the varieties of fancy Pigeons from Fantails to racing birds, but really think the breeding of wild Pigeons and Doves much more interesting. It is now many years since I first saw the Crowned Pigeon in captivity, and always longed to own a pair ; but luck never came my way, and even if it did I guess the price would have stopped me. At the Zoological Gardens here we have four Crowned Pigeons, one Goura cristata (hen) and three Goura victoria , two males and one female, which have been here for about seven years. My greatest difficulty was to sex them, male and female look so much alike, and I could not find any one who could help me. Living in the Gardens, and not far from their enclosure, I was able to watch them when the Zoo was closed. Early one Spring morning I was passing when I noticed one of the three displaying, but as I came close, all was quiet again, and I was very little the wiser. The only thing left to do was to mark them, so I decided to ring them with celluloid rings, one on the right leg and the other on the left leg, and the third bird no ring, and watch for results. All went along quietly for a time, when one evening after a hot day I was sitting on a seat resting and at the same time admiring the beauty of the Crowned Pigeon, I was surprised to see what I thought a true pair. This raised my hopes, and next day I caught up the bird with no ring on, and left the other two together in a large case and very quiet, and waited results. After nearly twelve months and no sign of nesting, I decided again 15 200 H. MANFIELD - BREEDING IN CAPTIVITY OF CROWNED PIGEON to move them to even a bigger enclosure, and build a platform on the bough of a tree with half-inch wire netting the shape of a saucer, about six feet from the ground. Still nothing happened, only a little booming could be heard at times. I remembered the late Rev. C. D. Farrar, of Yorkshire, England, once saying in a letter that moving birds from one cage to another often did good, so took his advice and moved them, so that they could see each other between the netting. One morning, I was attracted by the usual booming, and coming closer saw them displaying in manner similar to that of the Crested Bronzewing ( Ocyphaps lophotes). I was now sure I had a true pair, and to my surprise later, saw one pick up a small stick in its beak. I immediately gathered what I thought suitable sticks for nesting. To encourage them, I built the nest for them, as I knew what frail nests most Pigeons make, and also placed a few sticks on the floor of the cage. The one I thought to be the male was later carrying sticks to the one on the nest. A few days later I could not believe my own eyes, when passing I noticed a bird on the nest (which proved to be the hen), a little uneasy when I approached. I found the hen had laid and was truly sitting. This was on 8th February. All went well, and on the twenty-eighth day, while standing wondering if the egg was fertile, the male, who was on the nest, took from under him the egg shell and latter dropped it from the nest, showing me the egg had hatched, and so far so good. The young one grew well, and at twelve days used to put its head out from under the parent bird. This went on until it was thirty-six days old, then it left the nest. Both birds shared in the incubation and fed the young, which is now full grown and difficult at first sight to distinguish from the parent birds. The young bird is now (July, 1946) nearly five months old, and the parents are busy again, and have an egg, and sitting again. One egg forms the clutch, and I should say they would nest twice a year with a certain amount of luck. This bird has not been previously bred in Australia, but the late Mr. Wauchsman, of Sydney, N.S.W., bred a hybrid between Goura cristata and G. victoria. The food consisted of maize, wheat, and field peas, and fruit such as cut-up-fine apple and pear. Stale plain cake or bread is much relished by them ; they eat very little green food. Lettuce is offered, but they are not keen. Mulberries grown in the Gardens are given when available. A. A. PRESTWICK - BREEDING SUCCESSES ABROAD 201 BREEDING SUCCESSES ABROAD By A. A. Prestwich California Woodpecker ( Balanosphyra formicivora ) There is a very interesting account in Aviculture , 1945, p. 328, by Eric C. Kinsey of his successfully breeding this Woodpecker in California in 1942 and subsequent years. In 1940 two wild- taken birds were hand-reared. They proved to be a male and a female. During 1941 they mated and attempted to nest in a desultory manner. In June, 1942, however, they nested in earnest and produced four eggs. All four hatched and the young ones were reared to maturity — two males and two females. Concerning the feeding of the young ones Kinsey writes : “ For the first few days, regurgitated grasshoppers and a limited quantity of mealworms (similarly prepared) made up the entire food carried into the nesting-box by the parents. Due to the fearlessness of the latter, it was quite a simple matter to take care of the live food requirements as all that was necessary was to hold out a grasshopper or mealworm, and one or the other parent would immediately seize, pound, and swallow it, then fly to the nesting hole, regurgitate the insect, dive into the box and satisfy (at least momentarily) a clamouring youngster. Fortunately, there were plenty of grasshoppers available, for ten minutes 4 sweeping 5 of a near-by pasture yielded enough of the insects to last several days. 44 Mealworms were fed sparingly, and only so as to afford an occasional change in diet. We do not like to use mealworms even in hand-rearing, for our experience has been that nestlings fed more or less heavily on them are usually short-lived. They have invariably gone bad with us during the post-juvenile moult, and either die outright by 4 going light 5 or show aberrant feathering as the result of an upset metabolism. To the contrary, nestlings (either hand- reared or aviary bred) from which we have withheld mealworms, or which have only been fed them sparingly, appear to be sturdier and not so subject to the strain of the earlier moults. While mealworms are undeniably a valuable food for the insectivorae they must be used with the utmost discretion and judgment, particularly with nestlings. 44 The regular food regimen for these Woodpeckers includes a 4 soft-bill ’ mixture, fruits of all kinds, acorns when procurable and last, but by no means least, pablum mixed with goats’ milk and fortified with desiccated dried meat and 4 Galen B ’. This latter mixture is used by us for all our birds and we have found it invaluable, particularly for the more delicate species, however the proportion of the fortifying agent is varied, depending on the species to be fed, and the degree of the insectivorousness. 202 A. A. PRESTWIGH - BREEDING SUCCESSES ABROAD 44 Within a week after hatching, fresh, unregurgitated grasshoppers were being fed to the young and it was about this time that we first noticed the pablum mixture being carried to the nest by the male. Whether this mixture was swallowed and then regurgitated before being fed to the nestlings, we were unable to ascertain with certainty ; our impression, however, is that it was fed fresh, probably moistened with saliva. The youngsters throve well on it and soon fresh fruit (principally pear and apple) and acorn and almond meats were also being offered them by the parents.55 They left the nest-box for the first time on 28th July, Kinsey continues : 44 Both parents and young returned to the nesting-box each night and slept together as a family group, and this arrangement continued until the end of October, when the juveniles moved into other shelter facilities in the aviary. These they utilized as roosting and sleeping quarters. 44 They all continued to live amicably together in the same aviary, even after the parents started nesting operations in the following spring.55 Their subsequent history is as follows : — 44 The first clutch of eggs in 1943 was undoubtedly laid by the old female, but all three females, mother and daughters, attempted to brood them and in the resultant melee the eggs were broken. The old male then chose one of his daughters for a mate, and she laid three eggs and started to incubate them, but interference by the other birds again caused trouble and the eggs disappeared. 44 The other young female had, in the interim, mated with one of the young males, so she took over the nesting-box and proceeded to set up housekeeping. A few days later the young female mate of the old male moved in with her mate and shortly there were nine eggs in the nesting-box, brooded by the two young females, sometimes together, more often separately.55 This joint enterprise might have succeeded had not the old male been accidentally crushed by the aviary door. 44 When the eggs hatched, neither of the two young mothers or the young father would carry food to the nest-box ; the old female attempted to feed, but was driven off by the other three and the brood died as soon as the contents of the yolk sacs were exhausted.55 One of the young males was killed during a terrific wind-storm in December. 44 In 1944 the single surviving male mated with one of the young females. . . . Eggs were subsequently laid and incubated, but failed to hatch. The same was true of a subsequent clutch.” Early in 1945 both young females mated with their brother, both laid eggs and both incubated. Only some of the eggs were fertile and the young ones quickly succumbed. More eggs were laid in mid-June, A. A. PRESTWICH - BREEDING SUCCESSES ABROAD 203 possibly by both females, and from these six young were hatched. Owing to unforeseen circumstances only one of these was fully reared. Kinsey ends his account : “ We are sorry that two survivors (one of each sex) could not have been salvaged from this last mating, for it might have enabled us to continue inbreeding through at least another generation. As matters are, we now have a healthy, vigorous specimen, product of a brother-sister mating, the parents, in turn, being products of a brother-sister mating. How far such intensive inbreeding may be continued in this species of Woodpeckers without impairment as to size, vigour, or fertility of offspring is still an interesting point for speculation.” The only other success with Woodpeckers of which I have a record is the White-headed ( Melanerpes candidus), bred by Dr. Macklin in 1 937 (see Avicultural Magazine, 1937, p. 244). Grey Parrot ( Psittacus erithacus ) A note in Aviculture , 1945, p. 342, reads : “ Mrs. Wright’s African Greys are hatching their fourth nest, which will make twelve young this year.” How many have been fully reared is not stated. Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Lee, of Los Angeles, were the first successful breeders in the U.S.A. in 1933. Early in August three eggs were laid, one of which hatched, but the young one only lived three weeks. In a second nest there were three eggs, all hatched, and one young one was eventually reared, partly by hand. In 1934 they had complete success, a brood of four was fully reared by the parents alone. There is a photograph and an account by the breeders in Aviculture , 1934, Nov.-Dee., p. 18. In 1939, p. 1 1 7, Gilbert Lee gives six photographs of various stages of hand-rearing, and writes : “ Since then (1934), we have consistently raised more and more as we have been able to get the old birds mated.” Mrs. Gilbert Lee continues to breed them. The only other success in the U.S.A. seems to have been obtained by an unnamed gentleman in Florida. He kept his birds in “ an enclosure much like a hen coop ”, yet two fine young were reared (. Aviculture , 1943. P-15)- ' f Aucher’s Grey Shrike ( Lanius excubitor aucheri ) Dr. H. Mendelssohn, of Tel-Aviv, in lit. 5th February, 1946, writes : “ A pair I collected as nestlings in the Judaean Desert, east of Jerusalem, in the spring of 1941, tried to breed when one year old, but without success. In their third year they bred, but devoured the young immediately after hatching. In their fourth year they bred three times ; twice they devoured the young, but on the third occasion laid a full clutch of five eggs (all the previous clutches contained only three 204 DEREK GOODWIN SPECULATIONS ON THE MIMICRY OF THE JAY eggs, whereas the normal clutch in this country is five or six) and reared three young. In their fifth year (four years old) they bred thrice and reared several young from each brood. The old pair and some of their offspring are at present living in our Institute and are doing well.” * * * SPECULATIONS ON THE MIMICRY OF THE JAY By Derek Goodwin I am inclined to think that the Jay surpasses even the Starling as a mimic, although, as through constant and in most cases quite unjustified persecution, it has a well-founded fear of mankind it is less apt to be heard by the average person. This trait, however, was evidently well known in former times. Readers of the Canterbury Tales will recall how Phoebus had a milk-white Crow : “ Which in a cage he fostred many a day And taught to speken as men doon a jay,” which suggests that the latter was the most commonly kept “ talking bird ” of that period. A favourite item in the Jay’s repertoire is the hooting of the Tawny Owl. This I have heard on a great many occasions, in the north and west of England, as well as about my home in Surrey. It is a good enough imitation to deceive anyone when first heard, but is usually softer and lower pitched than the original, although on the 8th of October, 1 945, at Kilvington, in Yorkshire, I heard a Jay give a less per¬ fect rendering in a louder, husky tone similar to that in which a tame Jay mimics the human voice. Amongst other well rendered imitations that I have heard from wild Jays were the notes of the cock Pheasant, Magpie (the chattering rattle), Mallard (the wheezing “ quairk ” of the drake), Jackdaw, Blackbird (the alarm note in its various phases), Little Owl, the “ herwick ” cry of the Tawny Owl, and the creaking call of the common Partridge ; the last once only and from the same Jay that gave the loud husky version of the Tawny Owl’s hooting mentioned above. Why birds indulge in mimicry is, to my mind, a most puzzling and interesting question. Listening to the vocal efforts of the Jay, Starling, and Common Myna, I have often received the impression that in such birds we may be witnessing the preliminary stages (in an evolutionary sense) from which the complicated songs of various other passerine birds have been evolved. It is of course well known that with many “ song birds ” the ability to reproduce the normal DEREK GOODWIN - SPECULATIONS ON THE MIMICRY OF THE JAY 205 song of the species is not innate, and it will not be uttered if the bird has never been allowed to hear it. Many birds which utter what one might loosely term a “ standard 55 song for the species, nevertheless sometimes interject notes copied from other species. Some, such as the Red Rumped Chat, habitually do so. It would be most instructive to know whether mimicry is often, or ever, indulged in by species in which the ability for natural specific song is innate, or whether, as I rather suspect, aptitude for mimicry is correlated with lack of innate ability to reproduce the normal song of the species. Birds appear usually, as one would expect, to show no compre¬ hension of the significance of the sounds they imitate, but Parrots have at times been alleged habitually to repeat words or phrases at appropriate moments, and I have heard a tame Jay, when startled by the sudden appearance of a cat, utter the most hysterical version of the Blackbird’s alarm before relapsing into his own harsh alarm cries. Both these cases may merely be the simple, but not altogether un¬ intelligent association of ideas, but the latter example certainly suggests that some copied sounds may come to have as much signifi¬ cance for the bird as the instinctive cries of its own species, if, as I imagine is the case, the alarm note of all species is instinctive, and the power of reproducing it innate. The cock Jay mentioned above, which I kept for some years prior to the war, was a most accomplished mimic, but his favourite sounds appeared to be a human whistle : any short whistled tune he would repeat accurately after hearing it only a few times, and these short whistled tunes (there were three of them), or rather phrases, he repeated with far greater frequency than the rest of his extensive repertoire. It was noticeable that although at the time I also kept domestic Pigeons, Stock, Barbary, and Turtle Doves, neither of the two cock Jays ever to my knowledge made any sound suggestive of the cooing of any species of Pigeon, although they mimicked almost every other bird within ear-shot, besides several non-avian sounds that they heard far less frequently. Is it possible that sounds which they are not capable of imitating have no interest whatever to the Jay, except, of course, when they are constantly associated with important events in its life, such as the loud noise usually made by a man walking in a wood ? Recently (24th June, 1946), I caught a fledgeling Jay which had evidently just left the nest, and was not strong enough on the wing to evade capture. Whilst I was ringing it, its cries of distress brought up the parents, who mobbed me vehemently at close quarters. As well as their own notes they uttered those of the Magpie (the harsh warning chatter), Tawny Owl, and the alarm note of the Blackbird. The Magpie notes were certainly uttered by both sexes, since I heard the harsh chatter constantly from both birds when at some distance 206 ALAN LENDON - MEMORIES OF THE MOLUCCAS from each other, but the credit for the rest of the repertoire is un¬ certain, as owing to the continual movement of the birds it was impossible to even guess at sexing them. Two points which struck me were : Firstly, the exactness of the Magpie imitation — usually the Magpie’s notes are rendered in a typical soft “Jay accent ”, but in this case had I not seen the birds at close quarters, I should never have believed I was listening to a j Jay. Secondly : That all the notes used were ones which might be expected to be associated with fear and anxiety in the birds’ minds. This may have been entirely coincidental, but is a point worthy of study. The Handbook of British Birds records this habit of mobbing human intruders with borrowed notes in the Irish sub-species, but unfortunately omits any reference to the precise nature of the notes used. No doubt some who read this short article will be able to supply the answers to the queries I have raised, or to give their own opinions on the subject, and if so, I feel sure that many others besides the writer would be glad to read their views in some future number of the Avicultural Magazine. * * * MEMORIES OF THE MOLUCCAS By Alan Lendon A sojourn of exactly from the middle of May to the middle of November, 1945, in the Netherlands East Indies enabled me to make the following observations on the avifauna of the region. Apart from a day spent on Tarakan at the end of May and a couple of days on Amboina in October, all the observations were made on Morotai, where the hospital to which I was attached was functioning, and on the adjacent small island of Raou. Morotai, the northernmost island of the Moluccas group, is about fifty miles long and twenty miles wide, and is situated a few degrees north of the Equator. Before the cessation of hostilities the only area under Allied control was a small perimeter at the southern extremity of the island, and apart from a few native villages, the island is almost entirely undeveloped, except for the area which the troops occupied. My stay there embraced the end of the wet season and most of the following dry, during which considerable breeding activity was noted. Being to the east of Wallace’s Line, the birds mainly exhibited Australian affinities, as will be seen by the following account of the species observed. Scrub Fowl ( Megapodius sp.). — The loud clanging calls of this bird were frequently to be heard, both by day and by night, emanating from small patches of uncleared jungle adjacent to the ALAN LENDON - MEMORIES OF THE MOLUCCAS 207 hospital. Although the birds must have been fairly plentiful, I was never fortunate enough to see an adult, although they were said to come into the hospital area at times. I had an interesting experience in regard to their fledgelings. On one occasion in July a small dark bird about the size of a fortnight old chicken flew into my tent ; it only stayed for a moment and then flew out again. My first thought was that it was a Quail, but its flight did not seem strong enough. I followed it up and got another look at it before it flew off again and I then felt certain that it was a megapode. A few days later I noticed another, or possibly the same bird, fly into the tent next to mine. On going to investigate it flew out, and I shot out my left hand and brought off a perfect slips catch ! The chick must have been fairly recently hatched as it was entirely covered with dark brown down except for the wing feathers, which were speckled and fairly well developed ; there was also a little tuft representing the crest, which is a feature of the adult. During October I discovered a nesting mound in a patch of jungle not 20 yards from a main road ; the surface was well scratched over, but I am unable to say if it was in use. The natives call the bird “ Maleo ” which is the name of an allied bird found in the Celebes. Fruit Pigeons. — A large pigeon with a grey head and greyish- white under-parts and dark greenish back was often to be heard and occasionally seen in the few tall trees which had been left standing amongst the coco-nuts. A smaller Pigeon with a white head and dark upper parts was seen once only in a patch of jungle near the perimeter. Rail. — A single Rail was seen running across a road on Amboina. It was mainly of a reddish-brown colour and a little larger than a Landrail ; it may have been the Chestnut Rail ( Eulabeornis castaneo- ventris ) or some near ally. Sea Birds. — True sea birds were very uncommon, the only ones identified with certainty being a Tern of medium size, which was moderately plentiful, and an occasional Noddy, probably Anous stolidus. Waders.— Waders were first noticed in the first week in September and remained moderately plentiful throughout the rest of my stay. I recognized five species, of which I was able to identify three with reasonable certainty. These were the Turnstone ( Arenaria interpres), Golden Plover ( Pluvialis dominions), and Whimbrel (Numenius phaopus). Of the last named I saw a pair on Amboina only. The other two species may have been the Sanderling ( Crocethia alba) and Sharp¬ tailed Sandpiper ( Erolia acuminata), but I am by no means certain of their identification. Herons. — Two species only were seen. A pair of the graceful Plumed Egret ( Egretta intermedia) were seen on a coral swamp on several occasions during November ; they did not appear to be in 208 ALAN LENDON - MEMORIES OF THE MOLUCCAS breeding plumage. Another Heron, probably the Reef ( Demiegretta sacra ) , was fairly common throughout my stay ; it appeared to spend most of its time by day roosting in the coco-nuts and I think it bred there. If my identification is correct the birds seen were all of the dark phase. Frigate Birds. — These were often seen circling over the peninsula and also out at sea. They have a most characteristic appearance in flight owing to the peculiar shape of their wings. I do not propose to hazard specific identification. Birds of Prey.— A large Sea-Eagle, almost certainly the White¬ breasted ( Haliaetus leucogaster) , was seen on a few occasions. Its leisurely flight makes the description of it “ floating like a great butterfly ” particularly apt. A pair of Red-backed Sea-Eagles were seen on one occasion on a small island in Morotai Strait. A Kestrel (' Cerchneis sp.) was very common, it was much darker, both on the back and breast than the Australian form, and had a noticeably grey rump. It bred in hollows in dead trees and was also observed on Amboina. Owls. — A nocturnal bird, with a call somewhat resembling that of the Boobook Owl, was frequently to be heard, but I never caught a glimpse of one. I feel tolerably certain that it was an Owl, but it may possibly have been a Frogmouth. Parrots. — The Parrots were the most conspicuous and, to me, the most interesting group of birds observed. Easily the commonest species was the Yellow-backed Lory ( Domicella garrulus jlavopalliatus) . It is a vivid scarlet bird with green wings and a conspicuous patch of yellow on the mantle and also on the shoulders, and is a little larger and stouter in build than the common Australian Blue Mountain Lorikeet. It apparently fed largely on the nectar of the coco-nut flowers, and its call note consisted of typical Lorikeet screeches when in flight and rather gurgling notes when feeding. I observed it both on Morotai and on Raou, it was almost always seen in pairs and was very pugnacious when two pairs met ; when perched the typical jerky Lory movements were noticeable, and the usual preening habits were in evidence. I am inclined to think they were breeding through¬ out my stay, as a pair were seen investigating a hole in a dead tree in June ; a young bird, which was noticeably duller than the adults, was caught in July ; and fledged young were observed being fed in October and November. This bird is called “ Loo-rie ” by the natives and is commonly kept by them as a pet on a small perch to which it is tied by the leg. They are fed on banana and germinated coco¬ nut and seem very hardy. I was able to get a pair of these birds down to the Adelaide Zoo, where they are thriving. I saw a single captive specimen of the closely allied Chattering Lory (D. g. garrulus) which had been brought from the adjacent island of Halmahera ; it is a little ALAN LENDON - MEMORIES OF THE MOLUCCAS 209 larger and lacks the yellow mantle. This bird also found its way to the Adelaide Zoo. A lovely Lory, of which I saw a pair on two occasions only, in November, was the Violet-necked {Eos squamata variegata). It is a gaudy bird, a mixture of crimson and purple, and is a little smaller than the two preceding species ; it was seen feeding in the coco-nuts. Yet another Lory, of which I only saw a captive specimen, was the black-capped {Domicella l. lory). This bird had almost certainly been brought to Morotai, as it is only found in the western portion of New Guinea. During the early months of my stay I saw small flocks of a Lorikeet which I felt fairly sure was one of the smaller species of the genus Trichoglossus ; it kept to the tall trees and did not visit the coco-nuts. It was presumably nomadic as I did not see it during the later months of the year. The only species of Lory described from Morotai that I did not identify is one of the genus Hypocharmosyna, this possibly was the bird, but I am rather doubtful. Turning now to the TRUE PARROTS, the second commonest species was one of the Red-cheeked Parrots ( Geoffroyus cyanicollis) , a green bird about the size of a Crimson-winged Parrot, the male having a red beak and pinkish-red head, and the female a black beak and greyish-brown head. I always thought the male looked very like an overgrown Peach-faced Lovebird ! In the early months of my stay these birds were always to be seen in pairs and attracted attention by their rapid flight and harsh monotonous call, both when flying and perching. In June and July I observed females investigating hollows in dead coco-nut palms and also saw the males feeding and displaying to the females ; the display consisted of a purposeful walk by the male along a palm frond towards the female and culminated in rather an absurd hop with outspread tail. I think they must have laid about the middle of August as for about a month thereafter females were not often seen and were very silent in flight. I do not know what this species feeds on, but presume that it is a fruit eater ; it is certainly not a nectar feeder. My experiences with this bird in captivity were disappointing ; I was fortunate enough to obtain a very tame, recently fledged, bird from some natives on Raou about the middle of August. It was being fed on bananas and eating well, but at that time I was quite unable to obtain fruit of any sort, and it did not thrive on germinated coco-nut and died after a few days. Then, late in October, I saw a female, calling loudly, fly to a hole in a coco-nut and hanging to the edge, proceed to feed two practically fully-grown young. The chance was irresistible and I got a native to climb the tree and get the two young for me. I fed them four times a day on chopped-up apple, which I had to force down their throats, but after four days of this they were showing no signs of feeding themselves and my patience was wearing out, so I released them, and within a few hours their parents had found and were 210 ALAN LENDON - MEMORIES OF THE MOLUCCAS feeding them. I was able to keep them under observation for a few days and they appeared to thrive. The nestlings can be sexed, for although both have yellowish-orange beaks and greyish-brown heads, in the male there is a pinkish suffusion, while in the female the greyish colour is not as intense nor does it extend as far on the nape. I was bitterly disappointed at not getting the chance of introducing these interesting birds to Australian aviculture. The native name for this Parrot is “Bur-rum”. The Grand Eclectus (E. grandis ) was fairly common, and I possessed a tame female, which fed entirely on germinated coco-nut, for several months of my stay. They were most often to be seen flying singly in a leisurely flapping way at some height above the coco-nuts and uttering their harsh notes at intervals. I had one opportunity of observing a fine male which was feeding in a tall tree, presumably on some fruit. The third true Parrot seen was one of the Great-billed Parrots ( Tanygnathus) . It was only seen in flight, when it resembled an Indian Ringneck with its shrill cries and quick beating of its wings. It was noticeably short- tailed and appeared to be yellowish under the wings. I was disappointed not to have seen any Cockatoos, as both the White-crested (if. alba) and Salmon-crested (K. moluccensis) are found in this group of islands. Roller. — The Australian Roller or Dollar Bird ( Eurystomus orientalis ) was seen throughout my stay with the exception of the last couple of months. Usually in pairs, it was easily recognized by its harsh call and aerobatic displays from the tops of tall dead trees ; also by the conspicuous markings on the under sides of the wings from which the name Dollar Bird is derived. Kingfishers. — Four species were identified, two being well-known Australian birds. These were the Sacred (. Halcyon sanctus) and the Mangrove ( H . chloris), the former being bluish-green on the back and buff below and the latter larger, brighter blue on the back and white under parts. Both were often to be seen around the coral swamp near the hospital. Another Kingfisher which I only saw on one occasion and am unable to identify was considerably larger with a blue back and white head ; it was seen on the seashore and was a most striking bird. I was not fortunate enough to see the long¬ tailed species ( T any sipter a doris) which is peculiar to Morotai, but my colleague, Major Ian Macgillivray, observed it once. Hornbill. — A single specimen of a moderate sized Hornbill was seen in flight on one occasion, it had a harsh croaking cry. Bee-eater. — I never had the luck to see the Australian Bee-eater ( Merops ornatus), but Major Macgillivray informed me that he identified this species on several occasions during the early part of our stay. Tree-Swift ( Macropteryx sp.). — These birds caused me more trouble in identification than any other. I first saw a pair on Raou in August, and thereafter they were often to be seen on Morotai. ALAN LENDON - MEMORIES OF THE MOLUCCAS 21 I They are large birds with very long wings and long forked tails, mainly grey in colour with some black markings on the wings. In flight they make a discordant squeaking call and reminded me very much of a Cockatiel in size and general shape, as the forked tail is not always apparent. They are fond of perching on dead trees and hawking therefrom ; one pair that I watched seemed to greatly resent the presence of a pair of Kingfishers in a near by tree. Cuckoo. — A bird, from whose flight I felt certain belonged to this family, was seen on one occasion. It was about the size of the Australian Pallid Cuckoo. Swallow. — A small bird of this family was very plentiful from September onwards, though rarely seen prior to this. It had the usual metallic head and back, the throat and breast were dark, gradually fading to a dirty cream colour, and the tail was short and square. This species was also plentiful on Amboina. Flycatcher. — A single pair of birds, undoubtedly referable to the genus Myiagra, were observed in a dense patch of jungle, searching for food in low trees and bushes close to the ground. The male had a metallic black head and back and whitish under parts, the female had a greyish head and back and a rusty throat. The tail was moderately long in both sexes. Fantail. — A bird very closely allied to, if not identical with, the Australian Willie Wagtail ( Rhipidura leucophrys ) was very common, especially around clearings. The habits are the same as those of the Australian form, but they are not as tame and I never heard them singing at night. This species was also seen on Amboina. My early impression was that the white eyebrow was absent, but this was later proved wrong. Cuckoo-Shrike. — A bird of this genus, which I think was probably Coracina papuensis, was seen fairly frequently ; it had the typical call and flight and the queer habit of folding and rearranging its wings after alighting. I saw a bird carrying food to a nest of young early in October. Caterpillar-eater. — I was able to identify a single male of this genus (. Lalage ) late in October. It had white under parts, black head, and grey back. I heard it call on several occasions, but did not hear the trilling song which is characteristic of the Australian bird. Wood-Swallow. — The White-breasted Wood-Swallow ( Artamus leucorhynchus) was plentiful throughout my stay. It was almost always to be seen perched on dead trees in the coral swamp and telephone wires were also favoured. It is a pretty bird with dark head, grey back, and white rump and breast. Newly-fledged young were seen at the end of July and again later in the year. Sun-bird. — This bird ( Cyrtostomus frenatus) was easily the most plentiful small bird on Morotai and was also seen on Amboina. 212 ALAN LENDON - MEMORIES OF THE MOLUCCAS It is a most attractive species, being greenish on the back and yellow on the breast, with a brilliant blue throat patch adorning the male. It has an extremely sweet song, almost Canary-like. As far as I could judge it is mainly a nectar feeder, living largely on the coco-nut and paw-paw flowers, but it probably is partly insectivorous as it was to be seen at times investigating the interior of tents. I feel that this bird would be very suitable for aviculture ; it should do well on the type of food supplied for Sugar-birds and Honeyeaters. In fact, in size and shape it closely resembles the Yellow- winged Sugar-bird. Bulbuls. — Several greenish birds, about the size and appearance of the Australian Singing Honeyeater, were seen in a patch of jungle, feeding on small berries. I have since identified them as the Moluccan Bulbul ( Criniger chloris). Friar-bird. — This species ( Tropidorhynchus fuscicollis) , said to be found only on Morotai, was a very common bird in the coco-nut plantations. It is a plain brown bird, with rather a rough appearance about its plumage. I am not certain whether it has a bare patch on the head or not ; if present it is certainly not very marked. It is about the size of a Wattle-bird and is very noisy, especially in the early morning and late evening, the notes are rather plaintive and not unpleasant. It was usually seen in small parties and struck one as a very stupid clumsy bird, very reminiscent in its behaviour of the Noisy Miner. Wagtail. — A single bird of the genus Motacilla was observed near a small pool in a clearing. It was greenish above and had some yellow on the abdomen and under tail-coverts. Finch. — A single brownish Finch, which I took to belong to the genus Muni a, was seen on Morotai ; in the short look that I got at it it seemed to resemble one of the Spice-Finches. On Amboina small parties of Finches, presumably the same, were seen in the cleared areas. A Sparrow, probably introduced, was fairly common around the town of Ambon. Shining Starling. — These birds ( Aplonis sp.) were seen on Morotai throughout my stay and were also noted on Amboina. They were nearly always in small flocks, and were most often seen in flight or perched on tall trees, occasionally they were seen feeding on swampy ground. Typical Starling calls were made while flying. They were seen entering hollows in dead trees and presumably breed therein, although the Australian bird, which must be closely allied, builds in colonies. They appeared to be of a metallic colour, some birds, presumably immature, showing dirty white under parts. Crow-Starling. — On my last day on Morotai I observed a pair of large greyish-black birds fly into a patch of jungle. They may have been Mynas, but I rather think they were the Crow-Starling (Lycocorax morotensis) which is peculiar to the island. A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS 213 Drongo. — A pair of these striking birds, genus Dicruris , were seen in a patch of jungle. Their metallic colouring and forked tail rendered identification easy. Crow. — A plain black Crow was comparatively common on Morotai. Addendum. — The only birds seen during a hectic day on Tarakan were a Bulbul and a Swallow, while I was rewarded during a brief stop in Darwin on my trip home with glimpses of Red-collared Lorikeets and Crimson-winged Parrots, in addition to Kites, Cuckoo- Shrikes, and Friar-birds. * * * AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS IN THE SCAMPSTON COLLECTION By A. F. Moody (1 Continued from page 121) Laughing Jackass (. Dacelo gigas) For several years examples (males) of this well-known Australian species have been kept here. It is a bird which we have found to be hardy, long lived, and altogether an amusing and easy subject to maintain in health. Habits Generally. — In habits, except during the early morning and evening, when they most frequently move about and give utterance to their very remarkable far reaching laugh or chatter, these Kingfishers may be said to be rather sluggishly inclined, and, I have observed, spend much of their time sitting still upon a log or substantial perch. When alarmed or when taking exercise, however, they appear different creatures, and are particularly active at shooting (swooping) up to a high perch, or silently dropping down into the long grass to capture some unlucky field mouse, vole, or earthworm. They also capture stray small birds (Chaffinches, etc., which are not quick enough at squeezing through the meshing of their aviary), and their method of killing such prey, which I have known to include a Thrush, is repeatedly to dash it against a stout perch until it is quite dead and, I should imagine, almost reduced to pulp. Disposition .—Given plenty of space and liberally fed, the species appears quite safe to keep with other birds, down to the size of a Barbary Dove. Breeding. — -Until 1910 we possessed no female, and our first success in this direction took place during the spring of 1912, when a pair took possession of a hollow log, laid three eggs (the first, 21st April), and hatched two young. These, without the slightest difficulty, were reared by simply keeping the parents liberally supplied with fragments (chopped) of animal food. (Freshly killed rabbit, Sparrows, etc.) 214 A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS Nest— A slight depression amidst the rotten wood lining the bottom of the log. Eggs. — Pure white of a size and shape resembling Pheasants’ eggs. Incubation. — Chiefly by the female, twenty and twenty- two days respectively. Of the Chicks. — I have notes that they could squeak and hold their heads up as soon as dry. That at eight days old, judging from the numerous small pellets in the nest, they were being supplied with food including fur, bone, and feathers. At fourteen days old the elder squab was about equal in size to a plucked Pigeon, was just getting its eyes open, and had the body covered with coarse quills through which the feather colouring was visible. At five weeks old each bird left the nest. Also that, Owl-like, one chick having two days start of the other, maintained the difference in size and development until fully feathered, and finally, that these young, on being parted with when fifteen weeks old, appeared to differ little from their parents, except that the blue on the wings of one bird showed pink in certain lights, and the bills of both were somewhat shorter and better fitting. Also the yellowish-white on the under mandible was not so pure as in the adults, but clouded with dark horn colour at its basal half. Sexual Differences. — The female of this breeding pair might readily be distinguished on the wing from the male by the absence of the conspicuous blue rump streak. Hardiness. — As before stated, the species is very hardy, and our specimens, being kept in a large aviary, provided with high perches and a rather too low shed, declined to seek shelter and, even during the severest of weather, without ill-effect or apparent unhappiness, roosted tucked up side by side, their usual mode of sleeping, quite in the open upon a high exposed perch. In spite of this apparent hardi¬ ness, however, I would recommend the species being slept under cover during the winter months, and may state that we latterly made it a rule, during severe frost or falls of snow, to confine our birds to a wire-fronted shed. Roller ( Coracias garrulus) We possessed at different times about half a dozen of these very beautiful and garrulous birds. The species may be described as moderately easy to keep, but being like the Golden Oriole possessed of a nervous temperament, and one of those birds that fly from perch to perch, requiring gentle treatment and considerable care in arranging their perches to preserve their larger feathers intact. Disposition , etc. — The males appear to require keeping apart, and we found both sexes somewhat spiteful and uncertain in temper towards each other. With their owners one or two examples became A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS 215 familiarly tame. Others, receiving the same treatment, remained wild and suspicious. Food. — Appears to require a regular supply of casting material, and our examples with the addition of a small daily allowance of hard-boiled egg and an occasional mealworm or cockroach, thrived when fed upon fragments of rabbits’ flesh (fur, bone, and flesh all chopped up together), varied with pieces of mouse or Sparrow. Hardiness , Housing , etc. — The remarks put forward under the heading of Golden Oriole apply to this species. Breeding. — I understand we were the first to breed this interesting species in captivity, rearing two young during the summer of 1901. The nesting site chosen was a hollow horizontal log, fixed high up in their shed. On looking into this log, the beautiful glossy white eggs could just be seen, resting upon the rotten wood at the darker end. The first egg was laid about 13th June, and incubation, as far as we could tell without disturbing the birds, lasted eighteen or nineteen days, the first young bird leaving the nest on the 26th day. These could be heard in the log at an early age, and from the first, the parents, unlike many other birds, simplified matters greatly by supplying their offspring with artificial food, upon which, with the addition of mealworms and a few black beetles, the young were reared. Indian Roller (C. indicus) We possessed for some time an example of this still more beautiful species, a bird whose habits and requirements appeared similar to those of the last species. Hoopoe ( Upupa epops) Some six or eight Hoopoes have been kept here. They are interesting and ornamental little birds to possess, but prove somewhat delicate of constitution and difficult to preserve in health for any considerable length of time. Special Requirements. — The species derives great pleasure and no doubt benefit by repeatedly probing with its long bill into the loose earth, and I would recommend that in confinement, wherever possible, this bird be given the range of an outer flight containing both short turf and a natural floor of a loose gritty nature. Food. — Our birds had daily access to a heap of frequently renewed turf refuse, from which by frequent boring they procured a certain number of earthworms, insects, etc. We also gave mealworms, and as to artificial food, nothing seemed to suit them better than a mixture (lightly mixed after being prepared separately), of chopped hard- boiled egg and fresh uncooked bullocks’ or sheeps’ heart. Hardiness. — Susceptible to cold combined with damp, requiring a dry sleeping chamber and artificial heat during the colder months. 16 216 A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS As a Wild Bird. — The species is evidently no stranger to the county, for according to Mr. T. H. Nelson’s Birds of Yorkshire , about seventy examples have been recorded, chiefly, I should imagine, during the spring or autumn. The only time, however, that I have been fortunate enough to see a Hoopoe in a wild state occurred during mid-winter (early in January, 1906), taking place as follows : Searching for a lost passage Falcon on the open wolds, and while having lunch under a hedge, I was attracted by the rather Jay-like note of a bird which at that time I was unfamiliar with, and on looking round, observed at a distance of about thirty yards a Hoopoe boring in a heap of horse droppings. For some time I had this bird under observation through a pair of field glasses, and it was interesting to note its mode of feeding and the way it had of raising and depressing its crest at each call. Also that frequently it stood quite still with crest depressed, and in that attitude might easily have escaped observation, as it then appeared a much less conspicuous object that when seen on the wing. Cuckoo ( Cuculus canorus) As an aviary bird I have had little experience of the Cuckoo, but judging from the fact that the young are not difficult to rear, and that some years ago there came into my possession a very ragged, but apparently healthy specimen, with flights and tail worn to stumps, which later completely moulted out and lived for upwards of a year in a cage, there seems reasonable ground for supposing that the species, properly treated, would prove interesting. Food. — Takes readily to fragments of raw lean meat but, as such a diet appears conducive to fits, I would suggest as a trial only a moderate allowance of meat supplemented with hard boiled egg, some good insectivorous mixture, mealworms, and as many caterpillars as can be procured. Disposition. — A nestling or two which we rescued from boys and kept for a few months here, proved finger tame while young, after¬ wards nervous, easily alarmed, and only fit subjects to be kept in an aviary provided with perches suitably arranged for birds which use their wings in moving from perch to perch. On the whole rather a dirty and untidy feeder. Sulphur Breasted Toucan ( Rhamphastos piscivorus ) A pair kept for about three years. They proved most amusing subjects, and on account of their ungainly bills, gorgeous colouring, and grotesque appearance generally, a great attraction to visitors. Habits. — Very arboreal. Our birds were exceedingly clever at jumping or scurrying (flying) from perch to perch. Upon the ground they progressed awkwardly yet swiftly by means of a series of oblique A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS 217 jumps and, when at roost, adopted the curious attitude of sleeping with their heads drawn in, and their tails reversed over the back. Voice. — Usually silent birds, but capable when alarmed or when handled, of giving utterance to a succession of shrill cries resembling the squealing of a sucking pig. Sexual Differences. — Male differed from the female by his larger size and more brilliantly coloured bill. Food. — Apparently simple feeders, but rather large and wasteful eaters, so to prevent them throwing it about we supplied their food (twice daily) in the bottom of a 2 lb. jam jar. This food usually consisted of three parts boiled rice sweetened with a little sugar, to one part of soaked (or scalded) currants and sultanas, also a daily allowance of a banana cut up into small pieces. Hardiness. — Somewhat delicate as regards cold and damp, and requiring artificial heat during the colder months. Parrots Conspicuous by their absence in the collection. I need only state that an odd example or pair have been kept more as pets than for avicultural study. Budgerigar ( Melopsittacus undulatus ) A few kept as children’s pets, breeds freely, and shows to the best advantage when several pairs are kept together in a large aviary. One of the most pleasing arrangements for a breeding colony of Budgerigars which I have had anything to do with was an 8 ft. section of a slightly decayed tree, three feet in diameter, and extending from floor to wired roof. This capped by an umbrella of zinc to keep the rain off, had numerous holes bored in the sides with a large auger. These the birds quickly enlarged to their liking, and looked very ornamental as they flew in and out like a colony of Sand Martins. Orange-winged Parrakeet ( Brologeris chariri) A pair of these pretty little Parrakeets kept as house cage birds. My chief recollection of the species is that they were finger tame, charming pets, but altogether too noisy for indoors. Birds of Prey Although the birds of prey differ considerably in their requirements, they have several wants in common, and apart from the similar nature of their food, they all require housing in structures with a comfortable, dry, and draught-proof shed at the back, and are much better with the sides of their aviaries boarded, the front and roof only being of wire. They all, even the Owls, with perhaps the one exception of the Barn Owl, are not averse to sunlight, and in addition to a shady 218 A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS retreat are happier with access to full sunshine. As to the size of the aviaries, I have known the smaller species, particularly the Owls, thrive in quite small places, say 6 feet by 6 feet. Whenever possible more roomy quarters are of course desirable. We found an aviary 25 feet in length, 14 feet wide, and 8 feet high, exclusive of a 9 ft. shed at the back, ample space for a pair of Kites or Snowy Owls. As to the floor covering for aviaries containing birds of prey, the shed part, if divided, is perhaps better covered with a good layer of clean sand and for the outer flights, although brick or stone pavement which can be swilled daily is cleaner, fine gravel is suitable. Perches. — In choosing perches, fairly stout ones of different sizes are best, removing all small useless twigs, and of course arranging them so that a bird is encouraged to take exercise (i.e. must use its wings in moving from one to another), and when sitting upon one perch is unable to soil another, or any part of the woodwork with its droppings. These perches may be horizontal bars, natural trees, or T-shaped stands, and if they are rough, that is with the bark on, all the better for the birds’ feet. An upright post is also a great attraction. In addition to these wooden perches, a large stone or piece of rock is usually appreciated by these and other birds, and helps to keep their bills and feet in order. The only other piece of furniture required, if it may be termed as such, is a suitably sized shallow bath of clean water, always or periodically left within reach. Food. — Regarding a food supply for these carnivorous birds, where numbers are kept, or where the aviculturist has not the advantage of rural surroundings, recourse may be had to butcher’s meat or to horse flesh ; the latter item, however, we did not use, and excepting as a change of diet, I should imagine the coarser animal foods to be too stimulating or heating for the generality of the group. (This is not intended to apply to the Eagles, Vultures, etc.) We use as a staple and reserve food for the larger species, freshly-killed wild rabbit (usually the small unsaleable ones, or those damaged in shooting), varying this menu in most cases with rats, Wood Pigeons, Moorhens, fowls’ heads and necks, etc. For the smaller kind, such as the Long-eared Owl and Kestrel, we also depend to a certain extent upon rabbit, but feed largely upon mice, voles, young rats, Sparrows, etc., with an occasional meal of sheeps’ heart. Feeding. — As to feeding, once a day towards evening is sufficiently often to feed most species ; they should be just keen enough to jump on to food thrown from the hand, and kept at that by regulating the supply accordingly. The smaller kinds, however, cannot bear long fasts, and in some instances need food (not necessarily as much as they will eat) , at each end of the day, whilst nestlings when growing and adults when moulting require treating liberally. That is, the A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS 2ig former are better with food continually before them and the latter with two meals a day. It is a good rule also to be generous in the matter of food during severe weather and the damp autumn months, and to make sure that all species have a gorge, or meal, consisting of as much as ever they can eat one day in the week, followed by a sparing feed or fast on the next day. It is also well to remember that few members of this group when in a state of nature, except the carrion feeders, take a meal without casting (i.e. fur or feathers with fragments of bone), and for that reason this should be supplied as often as procurable, and in no case less than twice or three times per week. Failing natural food containing casting, feathers, rabbits’ fur, or even clipped tow, mixed with chopped lean meat makes an excellent substitute. All food of whatever nature should be neither tainted nor frozen, and warm food, that is food given as soon as killed and while the blood is still warm, should be given frequently. This, in addition to being beneficial to their general health, has the effect of keeping the legs and cere natural and of a rich colour, and it is most valuable in the case of an ailing bird. In giving birds as food that are too large to be bolted whole it is well, in view of the aviary being unduly littered, to roughly pluck or remove the coarser feathers, and in supplying rabbits’ flesh, to give a piece, fur and all, with the bone just crushed. Barn Owl ( Tyto alba) A very beautiful, curious, and easily managed species whose one drawback in captivity is that it shows so little during the day time. It is one of those species that requires a box, or hollow log to nest in. If disturbed during the daytime places itself in a variety of grotesque and amusing attitudes. As a wild bird the Barn Owl, as is well known, is one of our most useful British birds, a statement I may support by adding that on visiting a nest placed in a hay loft and containing young, I found not less than nearly forty mice and voles, but not a single bird. Long Eared Owl (Asio otus ) I have found this Owl a most attractive and much admired bird to keep, being looked upon by many people as a great curiosity. Habits , etc. — In captivity it becomes very tame, but is largely nocturnal and prefers to sit the day through, bolt upright in some shady retreat. Referring to the habits and gregarious nature of the bird when in a state of nature, it is not unusual in this district during the autumn months, to discover parties of five or six sitting rigid, tight, and upright, in a single tree, whilst on one occasion I flushed no less than twelve, probably two broods, of these curiosities from a small thick pine. 220 A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS Voice. — As to the note of the species, the young frequently utter during the evenings for some weeks after leaving the nest a plaintive mewing call. The adults, during the pairing season, give vent to an occasional barking or grunting sound. Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) Probably the least difficult of the group to keep and, failing the diet recommended, will thrive upon the coarsest fare. If procured young it also becomes very tame and makes an excellent children’s pet. As throwing some light upon the varied nature of this bird’s food when in a wild state, I may record that on one occasion I examined a freshly-killed example whose crop was packed with the larvae of the Buff-tip Moth ( Pygaera cucephala ) . And referring to the newspaper notices that occasionally appear, describing the boldness of the species when its young are approached after dark, I may state that twice I have been the subject of these attacks, the first instance occurring when passing under trees in which no doubt there were young. In this case the bird was very crafty and the first intimation of the attack was the receipt of a thump upon the head, and my cap being carried to a distance of about ten feet. The bird then stooped at my head both ways in quick succession, like a trained Falcon stooping to a lure. Usually she turned or threw up just out of reach, but finally being without a stick, and searching for my missing headgear, she got another charge home. Her tactics during this engagement were remarkable and it was noticeable that when actually charging she was invariably silent, which meant that in the uncertain light, the only warning received of her approach was the current of air produced by her wings. A second instance took place some years later, and some miles distant from the first, making it unlikely that it was the same bird. This concerned an old female that proved bold enough to attack in the day time and which came and took up her quarters near a young bird which was being kept as a children’s pet. A third instance which actually came to my notice was the case of a labourer returning home after dusk having his right of way disputed by an Owl of this species whose young were sitting upon a stile which he had to cross. Lap Owl ( Scotiaptex lapponica) For some considerable time, whilst its owner was abroad, we had the care of an example of this fine Owl. Appearance. — A large grey hornless bird about the size of an Eagle Owl. Hardiness , etc. — Thrived upon a diet of rat and rabbit flesh, had been upwards of twenty years in confinement, and gave one the impression of being very hardy and an easily managed bird in captivity. A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS 221 Snowy Owl ( Nyctea nyctea) For several years a pair of these beautiful northern Owls thrived here. These taken as young from a nest in Norway during the summer of 1891, seemed excellently suited as to surroundings, when kept in a roomy aviary with access to a cool, semi-dark, thatched shed. Habits. — Largely diurnal, such examples as we have possessed, unless wild, have usually spent many hours daily in their outer flight, sitting upon a log, substantial perch, or large stone. They also, as can readily be imagined, are never happier or seen to better advantage than when surrounded with snow. Constitution , Special Requirements. — Rather delicate in confinement, requiring carefully catering for, and keeping with access to a cool shed. It seems advisable also, that they should be able to form castings daily, and partake of their food from a clean brick or stone surface swilled daily. Food. — We find nothing suits them better than freshly killed rats and rabbits. It is advisable, however, to avoid coarse, old examples of the former, or portions of the latter that contain milk. Breeding. — Nested annually for some years (since 1901), and in spite of the heat being much against both parents and young, have successfully reared on several occasions. The first sign of nesting with this pair usually commenced about the third week in May, by the female making several mock nests or scratchings in the sand. About this time also, the male, who happened to be much the more timid bird of the two, began to be bolder, and by the time the first egg was laid, his whole nature appeared changed, and instead of spending the greater part of his time in the shed, he voluntarily came out into the open to mount guard, while by the time the young were hatched, he was quite fierce and ready to attack any person passing near, but before this stage was reached, we usually temporarily covered up the front of their aviary with garden matting. Besides jealously mounting guard, the male also carried all food to the female at the nest, who fed the young, while small, by tearing tiny fragments off with the bill, and offering it to them under her breast. During this process she is partly standing, and as the chicks become older, it is noticeable that she frequently accompanies this feeding with many grunts, and a mantling 1 of the wings. Nest. — A rubbing in the sand, usually made in the darkest corner of their shed. Eggs. — Ovals, about equal to a fowl’s egg in size, and of the owl’s usual colour and texture. 1 A term used in falconry for a partial spreading of the wings. 222 A. F. MOODY - AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF SOME PERCHING BIRDS Incubation. — Appears to last about twenty-eight days, and as the female begins to sit as soon as the first egg is laid, there is naturally an interval of some days between the leaving of the shell of the first and last chick. These are reared upon the adult fare, the only difference made being that for the first week or two food is supplied liberally, and while still warm. The writer has no notes available as to when the young matured, but in the case of the male parent which died at the age of 24J years, it was noticeable that towards the end of his career, there appeared to be some slight reversion to the immature plumage. Thus, when in his prime the bird was absolutely white, except for a few black splashes on three or four tertiaries on each wing. At his death these were darker, with the splashes extending to the secondaries and wing coverts. The female which died at the age of 20 years had for some time, I believe, been showing a slight change of plumage. Hawk Owl ( Surnia ulula) A single example for a short time kept here. Appearance , etc. — A very vigorous, wide awake, and strong footed bird, requiring a diet similar to the commoner British species. Tengmalm’s Owl ( JEgolius funereus) A male kept for a few months. A rare and interesting little bird, densely feathered, purely nocturnal, and a true bird and mouse eater. Habits , etc. — Similar to the Tawny Owl. Scops Owl (Otus scops) About six examples kept. Appearance. — A quaint and curious tufted species, about the size of a Thrush. Habits , etc. — Although sprightly and active enough if disturbed during the daytime, these Scops were largely nocturnal, and preferred to spend the day through perched with feathers tightly compressed, amidst some dead sticks in the most shaded corner of their shed. When viewed, even under such artificial conditions, it was noticeable that their peculiar moth-like plumage rendered them difficult to see, and I should imagine of great protective value when in a state of nature. Food , Requirements , etc. — They do best when allowed plenty of exercise, and fed upon a light diet. Probably largely insect eaters, and being weak footed and ill adapted to tearing up food, I would recommend, if anything coarser than mice or Sparrows have to be supplied, that it be reduced to a mince and placed upon a clean board. THE SOCIETY’S MEDAL 223 Breeding . — The species has, I understand, been bred in captivity by Mr. Meade-Waldo, and unfertile eggs have been laid and sat upon here. These, three or four in number, were creamy white, round, rather large for the size of the bird, and deposited in a hollow log. Hardiness. — Appeared to require wintering in a dry, frostproof, temperature, and suffered if left out of doors too late in the autumn. Eagle Owl [Bubo bubo) For years this handsome and frequently kept species was repre¬ sented in the collection. It appears to be a free breeder, very hardy, and long-lived in captivity. Pigmy Owl ( Glaucidium passerinum) We possessed for some time an example of this miniature species, which is even less than Scops-giu. It proved to be an active and wide awake little creature, but could neither bear fasts of a few hours’ duration nor continued cold combined with damp. Little Owl ( Carine noctua) A few examples kept at different times. Habits , etc. — Largely diurnal and fond of sunshine, the Little Owl becomes moderately tame, and is rather an amusing bird to keep. It also possesses a curious trick of bobbing its head up and down, and is very quick at disappearing underground as though showing some affinity to the Burrowing Owls. Food. — Not such dainty feeders as the Scops and Pigmy, and may be described as rather large and continuous eaters. Breeding. — Had no opportunity of nesting here. Hardiness.— Quite hardy. * * * THE SOCIETY’S MEDAL Addendum The Society’s Medal was awarded to Mrs. N. Whar ton-T igar for breeding the Vinaceous Waxbill, Estrilda vinacea , in 1933. The breeder’s account appeared in A.M. , 1933, p. 437. A. A. P. 224 A. A. PRESTWICH - BREEDERS OF HAWFINCHES BREEDERS OF HAWFINCHES By A. A. Prestwich Recently I had occasion to refer to my notes on prominent aviculturists of the past, and under the “ T’s ” I noticed W. E. Teschemaker — probably one of the most successful aviculturists of all times. He certainly had the avicultural equivalent of “ Green Fingers ”. First successes were obtained in his Devonshire aviaries with almost monotonous regularity over a great many years. Accord¬ ing to my compilation they number forty-six — 21 British and 25 foreign species. Among the former is the entry : “ Hawfinch, 191 1, A.S. Medal (. A.M. , 1912, 28). On this occasion two young ones were reared. It then struck me that the Hawfinch had been bred but rarely. V. A. V. Carr, in lit. 18.4.40, says : “ My father has reared them for three years until they’ve left their nests, but has never (as yet) reared them until they can suffice for themselves prior to their moult.” F. J. Lee, of Oxford, reared two, male and female, in an inside aviary in 1940, teste E. H. Simmons, in lit. 28.8.44. But by far the most successful with this finch is H. S. Hepburn, of Jersey, Channel Islands. In answer to my inquiry as to how he had fared during the war, he wrote : “I am happy to state we are now settled down once again to a normal life after our sojourn two and a half years behind the wire in Germany. As you can, no doubt, imagine, it was indeed a weary and monotonous existence. Naturally it was very heart-breaking to have to leave our home, birds, and everything, at such short notice ; in our case, we were given notice for deportation at 10 o’clock on the Thursday night, and by 4 o’clock the following day we were on our way to Germany ! Still, we must be thankful, there were thousands, no doubt, who endured more than we. I was indeed sorry to hear on my return home that not one of my birds had survived, particularly my stock of Hawfinches. These I do feel the loss of very much, as they are going to be difficult to replace. I am only too glad to be able to furnish you with more facts regarding the breeding under control of these very interesting finches. Actually, I was successful in rearing five of these birds ; three at my first attempt in 1937, and two in 1939. I also had several nests of young hatch out in 1938, but failed to rear any that year. I started with one pair of wild-caught birds in 1937, these reared their young (two cocks, one hen). The following year (1938) I tried again with my original pair. No young reared. In 1939 I had three pairs breeding, these consisted of : — N. WHARTON-TIGAR - WILD BIRD NOTES FROM THE ISLE OF THANET 225 1 . My original pair. 2. An aviary-bred cock paired to a wild hen. 3. A wild cock paired to an aviary-bred hen. Results ! 1 . My original pair reared one young bird (a cock) . 2. After several attempts this pair succeeded in rearing one youngster (a cock). 3. The hen of this pair laid five eggs in her first clutch, hatched out five young, and actually reared the whole five up to within a day or so of leaving the nest. She then decided not to feed them any more, and as the cock also was not interested, that was that ! Note that the single youngsters reared were the survivors of three and four young respectively. It has often been said that a pair of finches will not usually rear a single young bird. In my experience with these birds, I find it easy enough to get them into condition, build nests, lay clutch after clutch of fertile eggs, but when the young hatch out it’s a different story. It’s then I start to worry. The great difficulty I find is to provide a sufficient variety of live food. Mealworms were my main standby, with the addition of small striped snails, which they seemed to relish, also anything in the way of live food to be found in the garden. Once the young left the nest they quickly took to mealworms and soaked sunflower, and were no trouble to rear to the full adult stage.” Should any member know of other successes, I would be interested to hear particulars. * * * WILD BIRD NOTES FROM THE ISLE OF THANET By N. Wharton-Tigar Being at the present time without a bird in cage or aviary, I turn to the wild birds in our garden and orchard. Many birds seem to inhabit this part of Kent, and though my knowledge of British birds is very limited, I will narrate what I have seen. The first incident that occurred was one autumn day last year, when I found a lovely bird caught in the low wire netting that surrounds our hedges to keep out rabbits. I took it to be a Woodcock, the plumage much resembled that of the common Pheasant. It had a very long beak, and was a fairly large bird. After letting it rest in my hand for a few minutes, I let it fly away. In the spring the Missel Thrush was the first to sing, but soon the Pigeons and Doves cooed, and the Magpies could be seen flitting 226 N. WHARTON-TIGAR - WILD BIRD NOTES FROM THE ISLE OF THANET about at the end of the orchard, repairing their annual nesting place, Blackbirds and Song Thrushes, Chaffinches, and many others, even Great Tits, sang, and began courting. In April, to my delight, I noticed a pair of Goldfinches carrying building material ; they always flew in the opposite direction and round to the site of their nest, which turned out to be at the very top of a tall pear tree. The nest was built, and the cock spent hours on guard in a neighbouring tree, singing nearly all the time. I could see them from my bedroom window, and used to jump up at 5 a.m. to watch them. Then a terrible gale sprang up which lasted for many weeks ; my little pair vanished, and I have never seen Goldfinches on our premises since, but saw some flying about in the village in a less exposed position. In searching for the Goldfinches, I noticed numbers of Linnets in the front garden, and on looking round found several nests in our ever¬ green euonymus hedges. In May the cocks were lovely with red on their heads, and many had quite rosy red breasts. They are such graceful little birds, and look brighter and prettier than they do when caged. When the cock has decided on a spot for the nest, usually not more than three or four feet above ground, he displays to the hen, singing not unlike a Violet-eared Waxbill, and seems to ignore one's presence, going in and out of the place chosen with nesting material. But once the nest is built of fibrous roots, and lined with brown woolly material, and the five speckled greyish blue eggs laid, they are seldom seen, though the cock can be heard singing not far away. During incubation, I abstain from going near the nest, but usually manage to peep in, just at hatching time. The tiny mites look like black hairy spiders with little open beaks. After this, I again leave the nest alone till I judge the young are a week or so old, then I look in every day till one morning they have flown away. The last nest I had under observation, the young left on 12th August. Some of these nests, and there were at least eight or ten, were built close to the veranda. Early in May a Missel Thrush made a round open nest in the low fork of a pear tree, close to a much used path, so open and exposed to view, and yet she laid her eggs, and bro ght up her brood. They found it rather warm at times, and the four youngsters would pant when the sun shone on the nest. They grew huge, and were quite unconcerned when we passed close to them, and talked to them. A Jenny Wren made a big round closed nest in a hedge, at the back of the house ; I never touched it, as I know they resent it, but they flew along the hawthorn hedge so often that I soon found it. The cock sang his loud but quite sweet song while I judged his mate was sitting, but as I could not look, I cannot be sure. Chaffinches were constantly feeding young, also many Greenfinches, but I never found a nest. A green Woodpecker, on wet days especially, would hunt on the lawn for ants, the green was a dull ohve, showing bright N. WHARTON-TIGAR - WILD BIRD NOTES FROM THE ISLE OF THANET 227 yellow rump, red top to head, extending down the neck below was grey. I believe this bird is sometimes called the English Parrot. The specimen I saw on many occasions may have been a hen, for it was not brilliantly colour d. A Sparrow Hawk would swoop down on the lawn, and carry off its prey. Owls flew about at dusk, Jack¬ daws passed by in big bands, and the Cuckoo was heard constantly from April till the end of June. I was very surprised on ist August to find a lovely young Cuckoo trying to get through some wire netting, so I caught him. He was a fully feathered youngster rich tan and black barred plumage, white spot on head, and a little white on flights and tail. He kept trying to peck me, and showed the brilliant orange inside to his mouth ; the feet were small and weak for the size of the bird. He was very calm and fearless. I let him go, and he could fly perfectly. Next day another baby Cuckoo appeared on the edge of the back lawn, short tailed and immature, and only able to hop alon^, and on ioth August, eight days later, another very young and dazed baby Cuckoo appeared from the same shrubbery, also only able to hop about ; I saw a Hedge Accentor feeding this one. I doubt if these last two would ever reach Africa. I recently read some interesting notes by Ray Palmer. He says in June the “ hen Cuckoo has long finished egg laying ”, and mentions that “ in her selected area no other Cuckoo would be allowed to work,” and says, “ a female Cuckoo selects prospective foster parents according to hereditary instinct, and the territory chosen depends on the species she is in the habit of using. The Hedge Accentor, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, and Reed Warbler are the principle birds used by British Cuckoos, but an individual Cuckoo always keeps to the same kind by which she herself was reared, and thus we get races of Cuckoos using certain fosterers. By the middle of June young Cuckoos are nearing maturity,” and so my three youngsters appearing in August may be somewhat unusual. I took the first youngster I found to be a young cock, the other two seemed duller in plumage, and might be females. It is now late August, and all nesting and feeding is over, and the garden and orchard no longer are filled with the music of the birds. 228 BRITISH AVICULTURISTS5 CLUB BRITISH AVICULTURISTS5 CLUB The second meeting of the Club was held at the Rembrandt Hotel, Thurloe Place, South Kensington, S.W. y, on Wednesday, 18th September, 1946, at 6 p.m., followed by a dinner. Chairman : — Mr. D. Seth-Smith. Members of the Club present: — P. H. Alderson, Dr. M. Amsler, Miss P. Barclay-Smith (Deputy Chairman), G. S. Beever, W. D. Bell, J. C. Bennett, Mrs. J. C. Bennett, Hylton Blythe, H. Buckland, Mrs. H. Buckland, Captain A. Clarence, Hon. Mrs. I. M. Dawson, Captain Jean Delacour, Captain B. H. Dulanty, O. E. Dunmore, M. D. England, A. Ezra, J. F. M. Floyd, Derek Goodwin, Tom Goodwin, F. Grant, C. F. Harding, Dr. Tom Hare, Dr. Osman Hill, R. S. Hirst, H. J. Indge, Terry Jones, Mrs. M. Knight, Miss E. M. Knobel (Club Hostess), Miss M. H. Knobel-Harman, J. Spedan Lewis, Malcolm Lyell, P. R. Masser, P. H. Maxwell, A. F. Moody, K. A. Norris, Sydney Porter, A. A. Prestwich (Hon. Secretary), Ft./Lieut. D. H. S. Risdon, R. Saunders, A. H. Scott, Miss P. Scott, Lt.-Cmdr. Peter Scott, Captain C. Scott-Hopkins, A. C. Soanes, Professor E. Sprawson, Captain H. S. Stokes, E. N. T. Vane, Mrs. N. Wharton-Tigar, R, C. Witting, Wallace Wood, Mrs. L, Younger. Guests : — Mrs. P. H. Alderson, Miss J. R. Buckland, Miss Aline Ezra, Miss Ruth Ezra, F. E. Fooks, Miss H. M. Gentry, C. Goodwin, F. A. Grant, R. E. Heath, A. Highfield, K. C. Hirst, Major Maxwell Knight, Mrs. M. Midgley, Major G. H. R. Pye-Smith, Mrs. R. Saunders, A. E. Sibley, E. Wilford Smith, Lt.-Col. W. P. C. Tenison, Mrs. R. C. Witting. Members of the Club, 53 ; Guests, 19 ; Total, 72. The Chairman, in opening the meeting, said how pleased he was to see such a large attendance. When the formation of the Club was first suggested he had been in some doubt as to whether it would prove the success hoped, but judging from the attendance he need have had no such misgiving and it was also indicative of the active interest of the members of the Society. During the last years it had been most difficult to keep the Avicultural Magazine going, but it had been kept up to a high standard. To achieve this the Editor had had to turn to a very large extent for help from abroad and one of those who had helped perhaps more than any other was Captain Jean Delacour, and it was a very great pleasure to welcome him once again after his long absence. Unfortunately some of the films Captain Delacour had intended to show had been delayed in transit from America ; this had necessitated an alteration in the programme and he was greatly indebted to Lt. -Commander Peter Scott, who had kindly agreed, at very short notice, to show some of his films. OBITUARY 229 Captain Delacour said that whereas at one time he used to come to England almost monthly it was now seven years since his last visit. He was delighted to be in England again, to be present at this meeting and to see so many old friends — some looking very much the same as when he last saw them. He greatly regretted that he was unable to show all the films he had intended, but he was able to show one which he thought would prove of considerable interest. Entitled “ One Second in the Life of a Humming Bird ” and taken in colour with an ultra-rapid camera, the film proved to be of outstanding interest and merit. Two species of Humming Birds were shown hovering before a feeding-bottle, and the rate so slowed down that the complicated wing movements were clearly discernible. Lt. -Commander Peter Scott then showed his colour film “ Geese of the World ”, in which practically all the species known to aviculture were included. These had, in the main, been photographed at Leckford, Lilford, and from his own pre-war collection on the Wash. Commander Scott briefly described the Wildfowl Observatory he was developing on the estuary of the Severn and added that he had the assistance of Mr. John Yealland in this work. Announcements Membership of the B.A.C. is now 106. The Club has received from its Patron, Mr. A. Ezra, a donation of £20. The meeting finally dispersed at 9.30 p.m. A. A. Prestwich [Hon. Sec.) The next meeting of the Club will be on 8th January, 1947. * ❖ * OBITUARY The deaths of the following members of the Avicultural Society are announced with regret : — J. E. Barber, Dr. Boltt, H. Birckhead, F. G. Chambers, Dr. Elphick, W. L. English, Major Flower, John Frostick, Dr. Macklin, W. Sherbrook, R. Suggitt, H. Wormald. 230 F. E. MATTHEWS - BIRD ITEMS - HOME AND COLONIAL BIRD ITEMS— HOME AND COLONIAL By F. E. Matthews This year the weather has not favoured my “ Many Colors ” or Turquoisine Parrakeets, though they made use of their nest-boxes and brooded their eggs assiduously. The inconsistent temperature, with rapid changes from heat to cold, and the all prevailing wind kept them from flying about, and made their sleeping quarters desirable. A pair of Gouldians nested several times with the result that there are a few lively young birds. Their aviary is fairly sheltered from the prevailing wind. I think our Grey Parrot has been most lively. She keeps us all up to the mark. She thinks we need it ? If she knows anyone is wanted it can be left to her. She also looks after a Sheltie (sheepdog) at all times, calling her by name or whistle to keep her near her. Every meal is announced : if anyone is absent they are called. The weather is discussed. We are told if it is going to rain. The dog is told to go and play ball and asked afterwards “ if it was nice out there ”, “if it was sunny ? ” When supper is over she tells us “ Want to go in the corner and be covered up in the dark ”. I never knew a bird so well up in the time for everything, and so persistent in getting her will carried out. In a letter from Kenya, dated 13th June, 1946, my brother writes of the inmates of his garden. He says he has a number of birds under observation at present, though not of many new species. A Heughlin Robin has built this year in a safer place than last year, he is pleased to say. There are two Sunbird nests of different species, one is a Malachite, the other not yet identified. It is a funny little nest near the ground with young birds in it. Two little nests outside a bedroom window contain young birds — and eggs. A Ruddy Waxbill has a nest in a creeper outside the dining-room window. We also have two types of Weavers’ nests in various parts of the garden, he adds. A black-headed Oriole has built high up in a Cape Chestnut tree and is a new visitor. They are noisy birds with a monotonous call, but striking to look at. Another new nest is owned by a Seed-eater — like a Canary. They are of that family and good songsters. This is, I think, “ Shelleys ”. It has built in a Macrocarpa hedge in the vegetable garden : not a very good place for me (he says) as it loves peas and they are just coming on. Bees are an awful nuisance in this country. Last Sunday evening I had just turned on the wireless to listen to the service at the Cathedral NOTES 231 when I heard that I had made a mistake, that the service was being relayed from the Church of Scotland. The announcer said that the service in the Cathedral was abandoned as the bees had invaded it. I have a jolly little wire-haired Terrier. The other day he saw a chicken in the garden which he recognized as not one of ours — how, I don’t know ? for he never touches ours. Anyway he went for it, and with difficulty I saved its life after it had lost many feathers. I gave him his expected beating, and afterwards he ran off to our little chapel and took refuge at the altar. I suppose he recognized that he never got into trouble there ! * * * NOTES Erratum. September-October number, 1946, p. 176, line 1 1. For chlorate of sodium read chloride of sodium. Chlorate is not a poison to vertebrates but this strength would certainly make them ill, it is, however, a very deadly plant poison and would kill all herbage plants and bushes for some distance around, especially if it got into the ponds or pools. Additions to the London Zoo The Council of the Zoological Society of London is sparing no effort to restore the Society’s collection of birds to its pre-war very high level. During the past few months there have been many additions, and numerous gaps have been filled. In these days of bird scarcity and near-empty aviaries, it is indeed a treat to visit the Parrot and Small Bird Houses. The pleasure of seeing so many former favourites represented is perhaps slightly marred by envy. We must perforce exercise patience, but surely the day cannot now be very far distant when birds will be once more available to the aviculturist. But let it be soon ! The following are the more important recent additions. June. — The Society’s collector, A. G. Bennett, brought 1 1 Picui Doves, 3 Green Cardinals, 3 Silky Cowbirds, 12 Falkland Island Turkey Vultures, 6 Brazilian Carrion Hawks, 2 Burrowing Owls, 1 Red-backed Buzzard, 5 Upland Geese, and 4 Magellan Jackass Penguins. Other arrivals were 2 Cornish Choughs, 3 Crested Screamers, and 5 Chilian Flamingoes. July. — The event of the month was the return of W. J. C. Frost with a collection purchased on behalf of the Society, and some thirty Parrot-like birds presented by Dr. W. C. Osman Hill. The purchased collection consisted of 5 Pied Mynas, 12 Pekin Robins, 2 Sikkim Jays ( Garrulus bispecularis inter stinctus) new to the collection, 6 Lanceolated Jays, 12 Occipital Blue Pies, 2 Wandering Tree Pies, 8 Rose-coloured Pastors, 10 Malabar Mynas, 6 Pagoda Starlings, 4 Brown-eared Bulbuls, 2 White¬ cheeked Bulbuls, 1 Red-eared Bulbul, 1 Nepal Hill Myna, 1 Brown Myna, 2 Golden- fronted Fruit-suckers, 1 Blue-cheeked Barbet, 1 Black-headed Oriole, 1 Orange¬ headed Ground Thrush, 2 Scarlet-backed Flower-peckers, 2 Impeyan Pheasants, 2 Crimson-horned Tragopans. Amongst Dr. Osman Hill’s birds were 1 Great Black Cockatoo, 1 Dwarf Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, 1 Great-billed Parrakeet, 5 Eclectus Parrots (sp. inq.) 2c? 3$, 3 Nepal Parrakeets, 1 Golden Conure, 1 Hawk-headed Parrot, 1 Red Lory, 4 Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, 3 Mitchell’s Lorikeets, 2 Red- collared Lorikeets. Also 1 Brown-headed Gull ( Larus brunnicephalus) from the High¬ lands of Central Asia. Other additions for the month were 1 Martial Hawk Eagle, 1 Bateleur Eagle, and 1 Black Kite, all presented by A. Miller. 7 232 NOTES August. — The most important arrivals were 2 Sharp-winged Teal {Anas flavirostris oxyptera) of Southern Peru, new to the collection, 2 Cornish Choughs, 2 Puffins, 1 Black-billed Tree Duck, 2 Grey-necked Crowned Cranes, and 1 Demoiselle Crane. The Whipsnade additions include 3 Upland Geese, 5 Canada Geese, and 4 Common Rheas, all hatched in the Park. One very important bird has died in the Parrot House, Sydney Porter’s Norfolk Island Parrakeet ( Cyanoramphus nova-zelandia cookii). The species is believed to be almost extinct in the wild state, and this bird was probably the last one in captivity. A. A. P. Royal Zoological Society of South Australia. The following extract is taken from Z°° News, September-October, 1945, issued by the Royal Zoological Society of South Australia, in continuation of the extract made in the May-June number of the Avicultural Magazine : — In two previous issues, we outlined various characteristic movements peculiar to sundry species of birds, dealing with : 1 . Actions of a utilitarian nature. 2. Those of a display nature. We now come to : 3. Actions of obscure significance. Here again, such movements are practically confined to the bird world, or so it would seem from observations made in the Zoo. In some cases movement seems to be involuntary or at least sub-conscious, but in others it is actuated by the voluntary participation of the bird in some ritual performance, game, or other communal activity. Subconscious or involuntary action is exemplified by the following birds : — Water Hens, Coots, Moorhens, and Rails. Most people are familiar with the habit these birds have of flicking the tail. Kestrels and Plovers. — These are birds of widely divergent species, yet they each have a habit of “ bobbing ” the head. It is difficult to assign a reason for this characteristic movement, but it is an interesting point that it is common to two birds so very different from each other. Pratincole.- — This bird is a relative of the Plover and “ bobs ” its head too. It also has a peculiar habit of rocking the body while standing, as if it were having difficulty in maintaining its balance. Our popular little friend, the Willie Wagtail, has a way of flicking his wings. This is usually done during his insect-catching activities in the short intervals when he is perching or running. Its significance seems obscure, unless it is his way of keeping the wings ready for instant use. The various Curassows, large South American birds, all have a peculiar way of shaking the head. There is nothing to indicate what useful purpose this fulfils. Then there are the Shags and Cormorants that can be seen sitting on piles, buoys, etc., with outspread wings and steadily “ gargling ”. Doubtless the wings are spread for the purpose of drying those members or to get full benefit of basking in the sun, but for what purpose is the “ gargling ” ? _ Some birds indulge in activities which seem to be in the nature of ritual performances. Such performances might be done by one, two, or more individuals. The various species of Bower Birds are well known for their peculiarity of building “ bowers ”. These vary in structure according to species. Birds in the Zoo have often built bowers. The bower is not a nest but a form of playground ; the nest is a different structure of what might be termed orthodox type. The bower is built on the ground and is composed of small sticks which the bird places or weaves together in such a way as to form a bower or passageway with vertical sides. The bower is then adorned with objects such as snail shells, broken china (if available) and other things that take its fancy. It is an interesting fact that Bower Birds are specially attracted by blue objects. The bower and its “ fittings ” are frequently adjusted and rearranged to the accompaniment of strange noises and peculiar antics. Apropos Bower Birds being fond of blue objects, the writer recently put some blue lobelia flowers in a case where there was a bower. The “ proprietor ” of the bower immediately picked up a flower, but, before placing it in the bower, carefully removed several green leaves attached to it. CORRESPONDENCE 233 Other birds, such as Gulls, at times indulge in noisy vociferations to the accompaniment of much bowing to each other. Penguins perform a somewhat similar display except that the body is held erect and the head pointed upwards. It is difficult to know just what these manifestations mean. They do not appear to be done in play nor can they signify hostility, as no blows or pecks are exchanged. Cranes form another group of birds which indulge in strange antics. The community dance of the Australian Crane (also known as Brolga or Native Companion) is well known. Other examples could be quoted but space does not permit. The significance of many activities is obscure but in some cases, perhaps, they could be attributed to playfulness. Nature endows most young mammals with an urge to play, and in this way ensures necessary exercise in their critical developmental stages. This does not, however, appear to be the case in the world of birds, although there might be exceptions such as young Emu chicks which will run about in the peculiar erratic manner of their parents. This might be a form of play. Certain birds in adult form definitely do play. The Caiques roll on the ground and “ wrestle ” with each other, as also do the Lorikeets. The Kea loves to hop about and play with various objects. Other peculiarities of the bird world are evidenced by the Mot Mots, which deliberately remove portion of the vane from some of their tail feathers. This is not attributable to the feather-plucking “ vice ” often acquired by Cockatoos confined in a small cage. Thus, while we are left in doubt as to the reason for much that birds do, they offer an absorbing subject for observation, speculation, and study. Nomination of New Members of Council The following have been nominated to serve on the Council : Mr. K. N. Norris, F. /Lieut. D. H. S. Risdon, Commander Peter Scott, R.N., in place of Mr. R. S. de Quincey, Mr. A. Sherriff, Capt. H. S. Stokes. Mr. A. Sherriff as Auditor in place of Mr. S. Williams. Acknowledgment The Editor acknowledges with many thanks the invaluable assistance of Mr. A. A. Prestwich in compiling the Index to Subjects of this volume. * * * CORRESPONDENCE I have been asking myself, what have I done this year to help the Society, and, in particular, our two lady Officers who are so gallantly carrying on the duties of Editor and Secretary and Treasurer, respectively, for my pleasure and interest ? — and the answer, I am afraid, is “ mighty little ” — not from being unwilling, but just from want of thought. In an effort, therefore, to ease some of their burdens I promise each year to — (a) Send at least one article or letter to our Editor, and ( b ) to introduce at least one member, or (c) if I am unable to fulfil ( b ) to contribute the sum of One Pound (the “ missing ” member’s subscription) to the Society’s funds. I can imagine what a wonderful relief it would be to the two ladies in question, and how much it would lighten their tasks if every member would join in this self- imposed but none the less pleasant obligation. I hope you will have some hundreds of “ volunteers ”, for you certainly deserve them. Meanwhile, thank you both for all you have done, and are doing, to help the Society. Yours very truly, Alpha. Miss E. MAUD KNOBEL’S ACCOUNT as TREASURER of the AVICULTURAL SOCIETY From ist January, 1945, to 31st December, 1945. d. 9 CO CO 0 0 O O 0 0 0 CO CO 4<£ CO 10 X 0 O O 0 I-1 ^ CO <*S? CO 43 01 d" 00 CO CM ^ CM LO Cl 60 »-i CO «S 8 ‘r> a] " 2 •c £ § a a « pq d bo d d H t/5 > O o "d u S* >. £ CD O * g b o o Xl d . d < w S s •§. I